illiwililliii
A NEW HISTORY
of
OLD WINDSOR
Gonaecfticut
6i.
(THE ELLSWORTH HOMESTEAD
Standing serenely in its spacious
grounds, the Ellsworth Homestead
looks out upon the busy traffic of
Palisado Avenue on the outskirts of
Windsor, Connecticut. For more
than three centuries it has stood
there, amid the fine old trees, and
witnessed the many changes that
time has brought to New England
and, in fact, to all parts of our na-
tion.
In October, this dignified and
beautiful house, a gift from the
Ellsworth heirs, will have belonged
to the Connecticut Society for fifty
years. Plans are being made to suit-
ably observe this "Golden Jubilee".
The Connecticut Daughters are
justly proud of this, their so-called
"Home", where meetings, picnics
sjid nume^rous ID. A. Fl. activities are
carried on regularly.
On weekdays from May to De-
cember, the Homestead is open to
tourists who may be shown through
it for the small sum of 25c. For
members of the D. A. R. there is
no charge.
The Homestead, best knowTi as
the home of the famous Chief Jus-
tice, Oliver Ellsworth, was built in
1740. An ell was added later in the
1800's. It has 15 rooms, all furnished
in the tradition of early Colonial
America. Many beautiful and val-
uable pieces of furniture, china,
glass etc. have found their way into
the vai'ious rooms. Wide boarded
floors and wallpaper in colonial
style are notable features. In the
attic are spinning wheels, old sad-
dles and other reminders of the
days when the place was young.
Two Presidents of the United
States, George Washington and
John Adams, visited the Homestead
during their terms of office. They
were close friends of Justice Ells-
worth. /
Turnil^ from the bygone and
historic to the practical present, we
find that the Ellsworth Homestead,
though liberally endowed and the
recipient of several substantial gifts
of money, requires more funds that
it may be properly maintained in
these days of high living costs.
Therefore, in the coming year an
effort will be made to raise a spe-
cial amount for this purpose.
Mr. and Mrs. Carl Swanson for
four years have been the complete-
ly adequate caretakers of the Home-
stead. It is beautifully kept. The
Swansons, who have great respect
for history and its monuments, are
especially fitted to have charge of
the house and its treasures.
Recently a lairge lawn mower
costing over $500 had to be pur-
chased. With this modern conven-
ience, Mr. Swanson will be able to
keep in order the three acres of
lawn belonging to the estate.
Through a gift from Mrs. Mat-
thies, mother of Miss Katharine
IMatthies, a pavilion in which to
hold large D. A. R. gatherings was
built OR the rear of the grounds.
The building contains a large audi-
torium, ante rooms, a kitchen, base-
ment rooms and lavatories. Recent-
ly a heating plant, the joint gift of
tne Regents and Officers Club and
Miss Matthies, was installed. This
will substantially increase its value
as a meeting place at aU seasons of
the year.
Definite steps are being taken by
the Board of Directors, with the
State Regent as President, to arouse
keener interest in this important
historic place and to attract more
tourists to it. Nowhere in New Eng-
land is there a spot more worth-
while than this dignified, fine old
Homestead, which played so im-
portant a role in the days of our
country's infancy. — ^H.W.T.
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2010 with funding from
Boston Library Consortium IVIember Libraries
http://www.archive.org/details/newhistoryofoldwOOhowa
A NEW HISTORY
of
OLD WINDSOR
Connecticut
DANIEL HOWARD
1935
The Journal Press, Windsor Locks, Conn.
Foreword
This book is an outgrowth of the studies carried on pro-
ceding and during the year 1933, when the Ancient Town of
Windsor celebrated the Tercentenary of its settlement. As a
feature of that celebration the author, who was serving as
Chairman of the Tercentenary Committee appointed by the
town and w!ho as President of the Windsor Historical Society
had co-operated with others in considerable historical local
research, was asked to write a small book of a character appro-
priate for publication as a souvenir of the Tercentenary occa-
sion.
That book was published under the title, "Glimpses of
Ancient Windsor." Much other valuable material was also col-
lected which could not be used in the small volume of one hun-
dred pages. Now when the entire State of Connecticut is
celebrating the Tercentenary of its establishment it has seemed
proper to issue a larger book as a part of Windsor's contribu-
tion to the historic significance of this year. Such is one
excuse for this New History of Old Windsor.
As we said two years ago so now we repeat: There has
been no striving for literary merit at the expense of fidelity to
facts. Windsor's history can claim pre-eminence without lit-
erary embellishment. The first English settlement in Connecti-
cut, the outstanding leader in creating and developing the
institutions and agencies of government, the home of gov-
ernors, jurists, statesmen, theologians, educators, inventors,
and successful merchants, and industrialists, she has created a
history that tells itself. These pages are not dedicated to
fulsome praise. They portray every day human life and such
life is never perfect. Human foibles and frailties show among
the stern, the rugged, and the noblest qualities and aspirations.
It is hoped that all will combine and blend to produce a
true picture of the Ancient Town and its contribution to
progress and improvement.
May all who read these stories have a greater admiration
for those who struggled in the past and become more eager
to maintain and defend those principles of liberty, justice, law,
order and good government Which have made the name of our
town and our state highly honored and which must be main-
tained for the sake of the honor and happiness of our citizeais
in the future.
DANIEL HOWARD.
Windsor, Connecticut, May 1, 1985.
Notes
At the time Windsor was settled (1633) the new year
began on March 25. This will explain why in the early records
an occurrence recorded in December may be followed a month
or two months later by an occurrence reported in January or
February of the same year. In 1752 the Parliament of Great
Britain ordered that the day following September 3 should be
called September 14 on the calendar, and that the new year
should begin on January 1. Dates btweeen 1600 and 1700 had
ten days added on the calendar to make them conform to the
new calendar. Dates between 1700 and 1752 required the
addition of eleven days. Dates occurring between January 1
and March 25 from 1600 to 1752 were often marked as belong-
ing to tw^o years, as January 15, 1638-9, indicating that they
might with equal propriety be regarded as coming at the end of
the old year or the beginning of the new year.
Early documents both written and printed differed in
both spelling and the t>i3e of letters used from what is com-
mon today. A few of these documents are reproduced with
all their peculiarities. Two letters deserve special mention.
The so called long s was made to resemble an f but lacked a
part of the cross mark being made like this f . We have repro-
duced this f in only a few of the older documents and modern-
ized the letter in later reproductions.
Y is especially puzzling to the uninitiated. This charac-
ter represented y as in by and th as in ye. In the sec-ond case
it is a form of the Anglo-Saxon letter thorn and was pronounced
as th. It occurs in Colonial documents in such words as ye
— the; yt — that; yr — ^their; yrto — thereto; oyr — other; fayr —
father. In signatures F is sometimes represented by ff.
Omitted letters were common as o'" for our, w''*' for with,
Cap" for Captain and many others.
Discovery and Settlement
If we are to date the history of Ancient Windsor from the
time when it was first visited by Europeans xve must start with
the year 1614. In that year Adriaen Block, a Dutch sea cap-
tain, one of the Httle band that had recently begun the settle-
ment of New York, started out to explore the northern shore
of Long Island Sound. He discovered the Connecticut River,
which he named the Fresh River, and sailed up it as far as
Windsor where he saw an Indian village at a point which he
recorded as in 41 degrees and 48 minutes north latitude.
As a result of this discovery the Dutch believed that they
had a right to settle the Connecticut valley. England, however,
claimed the whole of New England as a part of the discovery
made by Sebastian Cabot in 1498. This situation was des-
tined to lead to rivalry between the English and the Dutch.
The first permanent settlement was made by the English
at Windsor on September 26, 1633. How did it come about ?
In 1631 war was going on between the River Indians, who
lived in the Connecticut valley, and the Pequot Indians, who
lived in the Thames valley. The Pequots were much stronger
than the River Indians and Pekoath, the Pequot sachem, had
driven Nattawanut and other River sachems from their homes.
It looked as if all the River Indians would scon be driven away
or destroyed. In their distress the Indians living in that part
of the valley which is now Windsor looked to the white men
for protection. They had heard of the settlement that had
been made at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620, and of several
other settlements that had just been made at and around
Boston. They decided to send Wahginnacut, one of their
sachems, to visit these settlements. When the Indians arrived
in Boston they told their story to Governor Winthrop and in-
vited him to send a colony of Englishmen to settle near them
promising that every year the Indians would give their white
neighbors eighty beaver skins and all the corn they needed.
Governor Wnithrop listened to their story but would promise
nothing. ,
8 OLD WINDSOR
The Indians next visited Governor Winslow at Plymouth
and repeated their story and their invitation to send a colony
of settlers to the beautiful and fertile Connecticut valley.
Their reception at Plymouth was more favorable than their
reception at Boston. Governor Winslow was intensely inter-
ested and soon made a journey to the home of his Indian visif-
tors. He found that all they had told him about the fertility
of the soil, the abundance of fish, the game and the fur bearing
animals, and other attractions of the new country was true.
The next year another expedition was sent from Plymouth to
continue the exploration of the Connecticut valley before a final
decision should be made. Later a delegation from Plymouth
suggested to the Massachusetts Bay colony that the two groups
should jointly try their fortune in this land of promise. The
Bay colony refused but we now know that they planned to go
there alone. The Plymouth people, however, were both ambi-
tious and energetic and they decided to wait no longer. Early
in 1633 they began their preparations for a settlement.
They decided that the first house to be erected should be
a trading house for they hoped to carry on a profitable trade
with the Indians. Then they went into the woods of Plymouth
and cut down trees from which they hewed the necessary
timber and boards. After fitting all the timber for the frame-
work and collecting the other necessary material they placed
them all on board "a large new bark" and were ready to start.
Governor Winslow appointed Lieutenant William Holmes
commander of the vessel. Besides the white men, Nattawanut
and other Indian sachems had come on board in order to return
to their homes from which the Pequots had driven them. They
sailed to the mouth of the Connecticut and up the river until
they reached the place where the city of Hartford stands today.
There they found a Dutch fort. The Dutch traders from Man-
hattan Island had heard that the English were coming to make
a settlement and they had built a fort in order to get ahead of
them and thus prevent their settling in the Connecticut valley.
When Lieutenant Holmes' vessel was opposite the fort the
Dutch commander called out, "Strike your colors or we will
fire upon you !" Holmes replied, "I have the .commission of the
DISCOVEIRY AND SETTLBME(NT
governor of Plymouth to go up the river and I shall go." He
sailed past the fort and the Dutch did not dare to fire. The little
band continued up the river until they reached the mouth of
another river about six miles above the fort. Here they landed
and erected their trading house and surrounded it with a
palisade.
When Wouter Van Twiller, the Dutch governor at New
Amsterdam, heard what the English had done in the Connecti^
cut valley above his fort he sent seventy soldiers to drive them
back. The English saw the soldiers coming with flags waving
^d every indication of a battle. Hurriedly they prepared for
the attack but when the Dutch saw that they meant to fight
and could not be frightened they turned back, went home, and
troubled the English settlement no more.
The trading house erected by William Holmes stood near
the junction of the Connecticut River and the Farmington a
short distance south of the present Loomis School. The site
is marked by a rock on whcih may be read this inscription:
THIS ROCK MARKS THE FIRST ENGLISH SETTLEMENT
IN CONNECTICUT BY MEMBERS FROM THE PLYMOUTH
COLONY, 1633.
DEDICATED BY THE ABIGAIL WOLCOTT ELLS-
WORTH CHAPTER OF THE D. A. R., JUNE, 1898.
/
PLYMOUTH COvorP>: \fo5^^»^.-
DtOiCa-TtO B-< -THE ^ '*
X
BOULDER MARKING SITE OF FIRST SETTLEMENT IN 1633
The Plymouth settlers purchased of the Indians three
tracts of land, the first on the west side of the Connecticut
River between the present site of Hartford and the Farming-
ton River; the second on the east side of the Connecticut River
between the Scantic River and the present village of Warehouse
10 OLD WINDSOR
Point; and the third between the Farmington River and
Hayden.
During the next two years they had Kttle opportunity to
extend their settlement nor was there much opportunity for
trade with the Ind:"ans because the Dutch, tho no longer openly
hostile, were their rivals in trade and within a few months had
sent their emissaries up the river twenty-five or thirty miles
in order to secure the fur trade of the natives farther north and
thus prevent it from falling into the hands of the English.
A sad fate befell this enterprise. Before the winter was
over small-pox had destroyed more than nine hundred-fifty of
the thousand Indians living west of Springfield, with whom the
Dutch traders had hoped to do a good business, and the traders
themselves were fortunate in being able to make their way
back to the Plymouth trading house where they were kindly
welcomed and received entertainment and care for several
days till they were able to return to their friends at Hartford.
A few weeks later the dreaded small-pox broke out among
the Indians living near the trading house and their chief
sachem and almost his entire tribe perished before the summer.
For many weeks the Plymouth settlers nursed and cared for
their stricken Indian friends and buried those who died. For-
tunately not one of the white men contracted the terrible
disease that proved so fatal to the natives. Another year
passed and left no detailed record of what was going on in the
infant settlement.
In the spring of 1635 the colony emerged into the brighter
light of history. A letter written by Jonathan Brewster in
July shows that for some time explorers and would be settlers
from Massachusetts Bay had been coming to Matianuck, as the
new settlement was then called, "almost dayly." These men
were given food and shelter at the trading house, furnished with
canoes and guides, and assisted in their desire "to view ye
countrie" and to select a favorable site on which to make a
settlement of their own. One bitter complaint, however, came
from the settlers of Matianuck. Many of the newcomers
showed a disposition to ignore the rights of the Plymouth
settlers and to deprive them of some of the land that they had
DISOOVEIRY AND SETTLEMENT 11
already boug-ht from the Indians. By July the controversy had
narrowed down to the banks of the Farmington River and
especially the Great Meadow on the north side of the river
"which was last bought." Mr. Brewster declares in his letter,
"I shall do what I can to withstand them. I hope they will
listen to reason ... we were here first . . . and
bought the land" and the expense and trouble already incurred
"may give us just cause to hold and keep that we are settled
upon."
They did keep what they were settled upon, which was
their first purchase and their fortified house in Plymouth
Meadow, but they had to compromise with regard to the Great
Meadow On the north side of the Farmington.
The new comers, who had come from Dorchester, Massa-
chusetts, determined to hold the Great Meadow until they could
decide whether or not it was the best place on which to estab-
lish their settlement. Before proceeding with the actual work
of erecting homes for themselves and making plans for others
who were to follow them, a part of their number set out to
explore the river and its west bank farther north. When the
members of this expedition returned in a few days they were
greatly surprised to find that another band of settlers had
arrived during their absence.
This third band of pioneers had come from England to
establish a settlement by virtue of a patent or deed from the
Earl of Warwick, President of the Council for New England.
The land embraced in this deed included a strip one hun-
dred twenty miles wide from Long Island Sound to the north-
ward and reaching from Rhode Island on the east to the
Pacific Ocean on the west. The group of people who came to
America to settle under this patent were known as the Lords
and Gentlemen. About twenty of their number under the
leadership of Mr. Francis Stiles had come up the Connecticut
river from the vicinity of Saybrook, which they had selected as
one site for a settlement. They, too, found the Great Meadow
an attractive place for a new home and when they found the
men from Plymouth already established at Matianuck, and the
men from Dorchester now convinced that the north side of the
12 OLD WINDSOR
Farmington was their future abode, they promptly told both
groups that they were trespassers and that they, the Lords and
Gentlemen, had come to take possession of the place and settle
it themselves.
The controversy that followed was finally settled by divid-
ing the land north of the Farmington. The people from Dor-
chester took the south part near the river and the Stiles party
settled farther north in the vicinity of the present Ellsworth
home, the headquarters of the Connecticut Daughters of the
American Revolution. Both parties were soon busy preparing
dug-outs in which to spend the winter on the side of the hill
overlooking the meadows.
As it was the Dorchester party that comprised by far the
largest number and exercised the greatest influence in laying
the foundations of the Ancient Town of Windsor it is proper
that we inquire somewhat into their origin and character.
Let us go back to Old England and the year 1630, Charles
the First then occupied the throne and ruled without respect
to Parliament as an absolute and irresponsible monarch. His
kingdom was torn with civil and religious strife. Puritans
and dissenters from the decrees and practices of the established
church, of which the king claimed to be the head, were crushed
with despotic cruelty. His father, James the First, had issued
this warning to the Puritans : "I will make them conform or I
will harry them out of the land." King Charles and his
helpers and advisers attempted to make good this threat. The
king's philosophy was fittingly expressed in his own words,
which he later uttered as he stood upon the scaffold prepared
for death: "Their (the people's) liberty and freedom consists
in having government; . . . it is not in their having a
share in the government; that is nothing pertaining to them."
Civil and religious liberty could not be had in England. It
might be found in America. That was the spur that drove'
thousands across the ocean. Among those who undertook the
hazardous voyage in the year 1630 was a band of Puritans, one
hundred forty in number, from Devonshire and adjoining
counties in southern England. They set sail from Plymouth on
the 20th of March in the good ship Mary and John. The story
DISCOVERY AND SETTLEiMEiNT 13
of the:'r sailing and their organization as an independent church
society is best told in the words of one of their own number,
Mr. Roger Clap, who recorded it in his memoirs. He says :
"I gave you a hint toward the beginning, that I came out of
Plymouth in Devon, the 20th of March, and arrived at Nan-
tasket (now Hull) the 30th of May, 1630. Now this is further to
inform you that there came many Godly families in that ship.
We were of passengers many in number (besides seamen) of
good rank. Two of our magistrates came with us, viz.: Mr.
Rossiter and Mr. Ludlow. These Godly people resolved to leave
together ; and therefore as they had made choice of those two
Reverend Servants of God, Mr. John Warham and Mr. John
Maverick to be their ministers, so they kept a solemn Day of
Fasting in New Hospital in Plymouth in England, spending it in
preaching and praying: where that worthy man of God, Mr.
John White of Dorchester in Dorset, was present and preached
unto us the word of God, in the fore part of the day, and in the
latter part of the day, as the people did solemnly make choice
of and call those Godly ministers to be their officers, so also the
Revd. Mr. Warham and Mr. Maverick did accept thereof and
expressed the same. So we came, by the good Hand of the
Lord, through the deep comfortably; having preaching or
expounding of the word of God every day for ten weeks to-
gether by our ministers."
The members of this church established themselves at
Massachusetts Bay and named their settlement Dorchester.
Here they remained five years. But their new home was not
entirely congenial to these lovers of liberty. The group of set-
tlements around Massachusetts Bay was dominated by clergy-
men and officials of aristocratic tendencies. Their governor,
John Winthrop, declared "The best part (of the people) is
always the least, and of that best part the wiser part is always
the lesser." The Rev. John Cotton put it more bluntly when he
said, ''Never did God ordain democracy for the government of
the church or people."
Such principles were repugnant to the leaders of the Dor-
chester church as they were to many others in the Bay settle-
ments. Impelled by a desire to live under a more democratic
14 OLD WINDSOR
government John Warham, Roger Ludlow, Bray Rossiter,
Henry Wolcott, John Mason, Matthew Grant, and their associ-
ates turned their attention toward the fertile meadows of the
Connecticut valley. The advance guard including Roger
Ludlow reached the Plymouth trading house in the Spring
or summer of 1635. It was this group that explored the region
and engaged in controversy with the Plymouth settlers and the
Lords and Gentlemen, A little later about sixty men, women
and children cam^e overland with their "cows, heifers, and
swine." The winter was so severe and food so scarce that
many returned to Massachusetts. In the spring they came
again with other friends and by April 1636 most of the Dor-
chester church and their pastor, John Warham, were settled
near the Farmington River, in the vicinity of the present Pali-
sado Green, and along the brow of the hill that overlooks the
"Great Meadow." Like the settlement they had left in Massa.-
chusetts their new settlement was named Dorchester. Until
they could prepare or procure the material for better homes
they were obliged to live in rude shelters consisting of cellar
like rooms excavated in the side of the rising ground along" the
edge of the meadow or the river bank. The rear end and the
two sides of each dug-out were simply the earth itself, partly
that which had been undisturbed and partly that which had
been taken out of the excavation. The roof of beams and poles
was thatched with wild grass. They probably placed hewn
planks upon the floor, but we have no record to prove this.
The front end was also without doubt protected by hewn boards
or stakes.
In the following year, 1637, danger from the Pequot
Indians led all the settlers to abandon their dug-outs on the
'sandy bank" and come together on and around the area now
known as the Palisado Green, Their new homes were at once
enclosed with a strong palisado.
For the first two years at least these settlers had no suitable
meeting house in which to hold religious services. We can only
guess at the character of their meeting places. In warm
weather they doubtless assembled out of doors and probably
under the shade of some friendly tree.
DISCOVEiRY AND SETTLEMExNT
15
In 1639 they began the construction of their first real
meeting house. It stood in the center of their pahsaded en-
closure about where the present memorial to the Dorchester
Pioneers was erected in 1930. It was not completed until sev-
eral years later. References in the early records indicate that
it was a rough wooden structure about seventy feet long and
thirty-six feet wide. It was covered with hewn clapboards and
had glass window panes and a thatched roof with a cupola and
a platform extending from the cupola along the ridge for some
distance on M^hich the sexton beat a drum to summon the
people to attend religious serv.ces or public meetings.
THE FIRST MBEiTING HOUSE
Within was found the pulpit at the rear with pews on each
side for the magistrates. In front of the pulpit was a space
for the communion table and chairs. Other pews for the elders
and deacons faced this space. Then came nine rows of seats
for the men and nine rows for the women, each seat intended
to accommodate six persons. On each side of the room were
thirteen short raised seats each intended for three persons.
16 OLD WINDSOR
Of course there were aisles between the short and the long
seats. The men occupied one side of the room and the women
the other side. Above the short seats were galleries for the
children. Thus the seating capacity was about two hundred
exclusive of the galleries.
The officers whose duty it was to "seat the meeting house,"
or assign the seats to those who paid the assessments pre-
scribed, had a difficult task to perform, for the best seats were
supposed to be assigned to these persons who merited dis-
tinction because of their dignity and importance.
About the same time that the meeting house was started
a "corn mill" was built and presented to the pastor, the Rev.
John Warham. In 1640 the town voted to give Pastor Warham
two acres of land to go with the mill, which still stands at the
junction of Poquonock Avenue and East Street. Since its con-
struction it has undergone many reconstructions and changes
and now shows little resemblance to the original mill of 1640.
It is supposed to be the first grist mill built in Connecticut and
for many years it served all the settlements in the river valley
as far south as Middletown.
Expansion
Within a few months after their settlement the first group
of Dorchester people began to purchase land for future ex-
pansion. On i*>pril 15, 1636, they made their first purchase
from the Indians. This comprised the present town of South
Windsor and was bounded on the south by the Podunk River
and on the north by the Scantic River and extended from the
Connecticut River east one day's walk, which must have includ-
ed according to the implications of later documents the north-
ern part of Manchester, Bolton, and Coventry, together with
Vernon and part of Tolland. The price paid was twenty coats
and fifteen fathoms of wampum. William Brewster and his
son Jonathan were friendly witnesses to this deed from their
Indian neighbors to their new neighbors from Dorchester.
One year later, on May 15, 1637, the Dorchester settle-
ment, Vv^hich had now received the name of Windsor, acquired
the title to fifteen-sixteenths of all the land that the Plymouth
people had purchased on the west side of the Connecticut River
extending from Hartford north as far as the present Hayden
Station schooihouse and west seven miles into the wilderness.
In addition the Plymouth people deeded to Windsor all the land
that they had purchased on the east side of the Connecticut.
This included the tract between the Scantic River and Ware-
house Point and extended somewhat indefinitely to the east.
New Plymouth Sale to Dorchester.
The record of this transaction is to be found in Vol. I., Page
227, Windsor Land Records, and reads, (in its original spelling
and punctuation) :
An agreement made Between Mr. Thomas Prince, for,
and on behalf of New Plimouth in America, and the inhabitnts
of Windf or. on the River of Connecticut in the said America the
15th day of May, 1637—
: on Consideration of 37£-10s-0 to be paid about three
months hence, the said Mr. Prince doth sell unto the inhabi-
tance of Windsor, all that Land meadow and upland, from a
18 OLD WINDSOR
marked a tree a quarter of a mile above Mr. Styles : North to the
great swamp next the bounds of Hartford South for bredth,
and in Length into the Country toward Paquanack So far as
Lequafson and Nattawanet Who Sachems hath or had (as prop-
rieties) all of w^hich hath been purchased cf the Sd Lequafson
and Nattawanet, for a valluable Consideration the perticulers
whereof do appear, in a note now produced by the said Mr.
Prince, always Excepted and Reserved, to the house of the said
New-Piimouth, 43 acres of meadow and 3 quarters and in up-
land on the other Side of the Swamp, neer their meadow, 40
acres, viz, 40 rod in bredth and in Length 160 rods into the
Country, for the prefent, and after wards as other Lotts are
Laid out, they are to have their proportion within their bounds
af oref d ther is Like wise Excepted : 70 rods in bredth towards
the bounds of the Sd. Hartford in an Indifferant place tc' be
agreed upon, and to go in Length to the End of the bounds,
aforef d, In witness whereof the parties aboveid have Set their
hands and seals, the day and year above written,
This Bargain as it is above Expreit, and was written and
afsigned I can Certainly Teftifie dos not menfion or Speek to
Every perticuler, of the bargain as it was Issued w^ith Mr.
Prince, before it was put in writing.
Foliowung this record is the accompanying note:
Writing: — th:'s should have been the frame of it Dorchester
men that came frcmthe Maf sachufet bay up here toConnecticut
to settle in the place now called Windsor, Plimouth men Chal-
lenged propriety here, by a purchas of the Land from the
Indians, whereupon in the Latter end of the 35 year Some of
our Principle men meeting with some of Plimouth men in Dor-
chester, Labored to Drive a Bargain with them to buy out
them, which they challenged by purchas, and Came to Termes,
and then May 37 as is above Expreft, then our Company being
Generally together (that Intended to settle here) Mr. Prince be-
ing come here, in the behalf of Plimouth men, that were part-
ners in their purchas, Issued the bargain with us, we were to pay
them 37£-10 S. for their whole purchas, which mr. Prince,
prefented to us in writing, only they reserved the 16th part of
for themselves and their 16th part in meadow, Land came by
EXPANSION 19
meafuring of ye meadows to 43 acres 3 quarters, which was
bounded out to Mr. Prince he being prefent, by my self ap-
pointed by our Company in Plimouth meadow so called by that
account, their 16th part in upland they took up neer the bounds
of Hartford, 70 rod in bredth by ye River and so to Continue
to the End of the bounds, they were also to have one acre to
build on, upon the Hill, againf t their meadow : — Alf o Mr. Prince
Said he had purchafsed the Land on the Eaft Side of the River
that Lyes between Scantick and Nemarick, and, that we should
have in Lew of 40 rod in bredth of upland, behind the Swamp
againsft their meadow, and to run in Length: 160 rod, from the
Swamp, to be forty acres, and after ward to have their pro-
portion within their bounds, according to a forty acre man, in
the Commons ! this I witness, MATHEW GRANT "
William Phelps was the first of the Dorchester group to
purchase land of the Indians on the west side of the Connecti-
cut. His purchase included land along the Farmington River
as far west as Poquonock. A generation later the inhabitants
of Windsor rebought the land in order to satisfy the claims of
the Indians.
The next addition extended north from Hayden Station
to Stony Brook in Sufheld and from the Connecticut River west
to the west side of Simsbury mountains. This was purchased
"about the time of the Pequot War," from the sachem Tehano.
This purchase was confirmed forty years later by a deed from
Quashabuck, his daughter, and Aushqua, her son.
In 1642 John Mason of Windsor bought of Nassahegan all
his land between Poquonock and Simsbury. Ten acres consti-
tuting "a certain neck of land lying at Poquonock" was still in
the possession of the Indians in 1659 when it was purchased
by George Griswold, who soon afterward purchased two acres
more at Indian Neck and a tract of marsh land near Simsbury.
Samuel Marshall and Jonathan Giliet purchased small tracts
near the Farmington River. In 1666 James Eno and John
Moses purchased from Nassahegan land on both sides of the
Farmington River from Windsor to Simsbury. This purchase
covered about twenty-eight thousand acres.
20 OLD WINDSOR
In 1670 Aramamet resold or confirmed to Windsor the land
that his predecessor, Nattawanut, had sold to the Plymouth
settlers in 1633, covering everything- from Hartford to
Poquonock.
King's Island, near the Enfield falls, which is known to
have been owned by the Rev. Ephraim Huit as early as 1642
(January, 1641, old style), was repurchased of the Indians by
John Lewis, June 26, 1678. This completed the purchases from
the Indians on the west side of the Connecticut River.
Coggerynosset, a Poquonock sachem, placed on record a
statement that Nassacowen had sold all of the land east of the
Great River between the Scantic River and Namerick Brook
(Warehouse Point) to the English for a nominal price because
of his pleasure in having them for neighbors, and in 1687, Toto,
Grandson of Nassacowen, confirmed the sale to agents of the
town of Windsor. This is the tract of land that the Plymouth
people said they had bought on the east side of the Connecticut
before the arrival of the Dorchester people and that they in-
cluded in their deed to Windsor on May 15, 1637.
In 1660 John Bissell, Jr., bought of Watshemino all his
"planting land from Namerick Brook upward by the Great
River" for fifty fathoms of wampum. In 1671 Thomas and
Nathaniel Bissell acting as agents for Windsor bought from
the chief of the Namerick Indians a tract covering most of the
present town of Enfield, the larger part of East Windsor, and
all of Ellington. In March, 1693, Towtops sold to Nathaniel
Bissell one hundred acres covering the south part of the present
village of Warehouse Point. This was the last purchase on the
east side of the Connecticut River.
Windsor's expansion did not wholly cease, however, with
the purchase of land from the Indians. The original territory
covered by the purchases we have mentioned comprised be-
tween 150,000 and 175,000 acres, or more than 250 square
miles. Before the last of these purchases was made the process
of division into smaller towns had begun but additional land
came under the jurisdiction of Windsor from time to time. In
1676 Joshua, son of Uncas, son-in-law of Aramamet, and
EXPANSION 21
sachem of the Niantics, by his will gave large tracts of land to
residents of Hartford and Windsor. These tracts were east of
the land that Windsor had purchased. In 1723 the legislature
granted to Windsor 8000 acres north of the land bequeathed by
the will of Joshua. This was to make up the "equivalent" of
land that Windsor had lost to Suffield and Enfield by the estab-
lishment of the boundary line between Connecticut and Massa-
chusetts, which at that time had jurisdiction over the two
towns to the north of Windsor.
In 1713 the heirs of Thomas Burnham transferred to the
town of Windsor for the purpose of promoting settlement part
of a tract lying to the south of the land purchased by Windsor
from the Indians on April 15, 1636, and which we have called
the South Windsor purchase. The tract conveyed was bounded
beginning at its southwest corner, which was eight miles east
of the Connecticut River and two miles farther south than the
mouth of the Podunk, by a line running east to the Willimantic
River, then north until it met with an east and west line drawn
from the mouth of the Scantic, then following this line to the
land already owned by Windsor, then following the line of the
Windsor claim to the starting point.
In 1686 Windsor also was granted a large tract of ''West-
ern Land" to prevent its anticipated sequestration by Sir Ed-
mund Andros, then Royal Governor of New England. In 1717
the town of Litchfield was created out of this territory. Title
to the rest of it was confirmed to Windsor by the legislature in
1732. It included the present towns of Colebrook, Barkham-
stead, Torrington, and the western half of Harwinton.
zm-'^-'
THE STOUGHTON HOUSE
OR
OLD STONE FORT
This was a refuge from Indian attacks in the days of Expansion.
Division
Before we continue the story of Windsor's activities as a
town it seems fitting to speak of the division of her vast terri-
tory in order that we may understand how much was really
included under the name of Windsor proper at any subsequent
period in her history.
In 1670, Simsbury, until then a part of the Ancient Town,
having received many of her early settlers from the Windsor
families who had left the parent settlement on the banks of the
Connecticut, desired a separate local government and became
a separate town. From Simsbury, Granby, which then included
part of the present town of East Granby, was set off in 1786.
In 1712 Coventry was incorporated without any apparent
necessity for action on the part of Windsor, which had never
exercised actual control over any part of this territory in spite
of the fact that some of it was included in the deeds referred
to in the chapter on expansion. The same lack of actual con-
trol by Windsor holds true in the case of Vernon and Manches-
ter, which were organized still later. The settlement of the
boundary line between Massachusetts and Connecticut de-
prived Windsor of all her territory within the present limits of
Enfield and Suffield. In 1642 the Massachusetts Bay colony
had employed two surveyors. Woodward and Saffery, to estab-
lish the line between Massachusetts and Connecticut. These
surveyors had placed the line so far south that both Enfield
and Suffield were included in the Massachusetts colony. In fact
Massachusttes claimed that her line was about two miles far-
ther south than the present southern boundary of these two
towns. Connecticut declared that the line was too far south.
The dispute and controversy that followed lasted until 1713,
when a new line, the present boundary, was established by a
compromise.
This line gave Enfield and Suffield to Connecticut, and
Windsor surrendered her claim to territory within these towns
in exchange for 8000 acres granted her under the "equivalent"
settlement made in 1723 and described in the chapter on Ex-
24 OLD WINDSOR
pansion. In 1715 Windsor laid out the town of Tolland under
the authority of the General Court. In 1719 Litghfield was
organized out of Windsor's "Western land." Bolton, whose
settlement was begun about 1716, was incorporated as a town
in 1720 and divided to create the town of Vernon in 1808. Har-
M'inton became an independent town in 1737. In 1740 Torring-
ton, until then a part of Windsor's ''Western land," was made
a separate town. In 1767 East Windsor presented the follow-
ing petition to the parent town :
East Windsor's Petition
To the Selectmen of Windsor in the County of Hartford:
Whereas the Town of Windsor is very large and of great
extent east and west and lies partly on the west and partly on
the east side of the great River w'^'^ makes it very difficult for
the Inhabitants to attend the pubiick meetings of s*^ Town &
utterly Impossible to take proper care of the public affairs of
the Town & therefore we the Subscribers Inhabitants of s"*
To-wn would humbly move that the Select men of s*^ Windsor
would cause legal warning to be given to the Inhabitants of s**
Windsor to meet at the Meeting House of ye first society in said
Windsor on the first Monday of December next then & there to
consider whether they will vote to divide Said Town of Wind-
sor at the great River into two towns an apply to the General
A,ssembly in May next for an Act for that Purpose.
Dated at Windsor, October 2d, 1767
Wm. Wolcott
Erastus Wolcott
Joseph Newberry
Zeb King
Benjamin Newberry
Thomas Foster
Amasa Loomis
Joel Lomis
Nathll Lomis
Samuel Pinney
Samuel Gibbs
Abrm Foster
Nathan Day
Noah Bissell
William Bissell
DIVISION 25
East Windsor was made a separate town in May, 1768. It
included Ellington and South Windsor. Ellington was incorpor-
ated a separate town in May, 1786. South Windsor was taken
from East Windsor and incorporated as a town in May, 1845.
In 1779, two new towns came into being, both of which
had been a part of Windsor's "Western land." These were
Barkhamstead and Colebrook. Manchester, whose northern
boundary was within the territory once deeded to Windsor, was
later regarded as a part of East Hartford and was set off from
that town in 1823. Wintonbury derived its name from three
adjoining towns. It's eastern part was originally within the
limits of Ancient Windsor and was known as Greenfield. In
1734 agitation for separate church privileges began. In 1736
thirty-one persons living in this section of Windsor united with
eight persons from Farmington and twelve from Simsbury in
a petition to be organized into a separate parish for church
purposes. The parish took for its name the syllable Win- from
Windsor, ton- from Farmington, and bury from Simsbury.
Wintonbury, to which were joined a part of Poquonock
parish in Windsor and Scotland parish in Simsbury, was incor-
porated in 1835 and became the present town of Bloomfield.
In 1854 the settlement at the ''Locks" became the town of
Windsor Locks. At that time it extended farther west than it
does now but in 1858 the west part of the new town was com-
bined with the east part of Granby to form the town of East
Granby.
These towns comprise the list of "true daughters" of the
Ancient Town but many other communities trace their origin
in part to Windsor as the source of their early colonists.
Roger Ludlow and his followers started the settlement af
Fairfield in 1639 ; Colchester, Hebron, and Haddam drew many
of their pioneer settlers from Windsor. Windsor also had a
prominent part in 1755 in settling Connecticut's Wyoming val-
ley in what is now Pennsylvania, and Windsor, Vermont, and
some forty or more other Vermont towns, which were settled
by Connecticut emigrants and now bear names that duplicate
the names of older communities in Connecticut, drew a large
quota from the population of the Ancient Town.
REEL AND SWIFT
These typical hand machines were to be found
in almost every home during this p-eriod.
Government
Until the first month of the year 1636, w^hich under the
method of reckoning- time then employed by both old England
and New England was the month of March, neither the settlers
of Windsor (then Dorchester) nor the settlers of the other two
river towns, Wethersfield and Hartford (then Watertown and
Newtown) , had felt the need of any organized civil government.
The general cooperation that always prevails and solves and
settles the ordinary problems of a well managed family had
taken care of the social relations of the larger families that
constituted these three pioneer communities. Their church
organizations took care of about all the first needs of these
little bands so far as they required the direction of established
custom and the authority of chosen leaders and teachers. But
before they left Massachusetts the three river groups that came
from Massachusetts Bay had apparently devised a plan for the
early org'anization of a stable civil government. It had been
agreed that the settlements should at the outset remain under
the authority of the Massachusetts government, which had
commissioned them to enter the Connecticut valley.
In March, 1636, the General Court of Massachusetts set
up a commission of eight members with Roger Ludlow at their
head to govern the river settlements for the space of one year.
This commission included William Pyncheon and Henry Smith
representing Agawam (now Springfield) within the boundaries
of Massachusetts. Altho Agawam maintained close and friend-
ly relations with the Connecticut settlements only one of her
commissioners ever met with the others officially, while the
Connecticut representatives from the beginning acted upon
the assumption that they were partners in a common enter-
prise. Windsor's two members of this important commission
were Roger Ludlow and William Phelps.
About six weeks after the appointment of the commission
it held its first meeting at Newtown (Hartford) on April 26,
1636. The meeting was reported in the Colonial Records as
"a corte" (a court) and was attended by two commissioners
28 OLD WINDSOR
from Dorchester, two from Newtown, and one from Water-
town. Roger Ludlcw was president of the court and thus be-
came virtually the first governor of Connecticut, tho the title
of governor was not used.
During the term of one year for which the commission
had been appointed it held eight meetings, one at Dorchester,
one at Watertown, and the rest at the more central location
where the first session had been held. At these courts the
commissioners performed all the functions of government that
the exigencies of the times seemed to them to demand.
Their first recorded official act was the issuing of an order
to Henry Stiles of Dorchester to recover before the meeting of
the next court a gun that he had traded to an Indian for a sup-
ply of corn. It was then declared to be the law for all within
the jurisdiction of the court that the sale of fire-arms and am-
munition to the Indians should be considered a misdemeanor
punishable by a heavy penalty. Thus early did the sale of arms
to a potential enemy begin to plague the protectors of the home
and the government.
The first court appointed Henry Wolcott constable for Dor-
chester and other constables for Newtown and Watertown.
The courts made rules for the restraint and care of swine and
cattle, for the survey of land and the determination of bound-
aries, for the settlement of disputes, for the distribution of
land, for the public safety and military training, for the organi-
zation of churches and their membership, for the promotion of
social and moral welfare, and for the settlement of estates.
Shortly before the close of the year on February 21, 1636, the
court fixed the boundaries of the three towns and decreed that
henceforth Dorchester should be called Windsor, Watertown
should be called Wethersfield, and Newtown should be named
Hartford.
On March 28, 1637, the last meeting of the commission as
such was held. The next court held at Hartford on May 1 of
that year was, it is true, made up of the same men that had
served during the first year, but with the addition of other
men, who represented their towns as committees. A new desig-
nation now appeared at the head of their records. The ses-
GOVERNMENT 29
sions of this legislative and judicial body were henceforth
known as meetings of the General Court. The three towns,
which no longer bore the names of the Massachusetts towns
from which they had been derived, now constituted the wholly
separate colony of Connecticut, tho they still maintained close
association with Agawam for trade and for defense against the
Indians.
The first official act of the General Court was the declaration
of an offensive war against the Pequot Indians. During the sec-
ond year this modified form of government served the needs of
the colony and the commissioners left no record of an attempt
to make essential changes in its character. But the leaders saw
the need of something better. Those who had served as com-
missioners saw that it was inadequate for a colony destined
to expand and grow. John Warham, pastor of the church at
Windsor, Thomas Hooker, pastor of the church at Hartford,
and his associate, Samuel Stone, were men of like views. Henry
Wolcott of Windsor and John Haynes and Edward Hopkins of
Hartford were also valued counselors in all their plans. Pre-
eminent, however, above all the rest were Thomas Hooker of
Hartford and Roger Ludlow of Windsor. Hooker was the first
citizen of the colony and its most highly revered and most in-
fluential teacher and leader. Roger Ludlow, the Oxford scholar
of high rank and the most brilliant and versatile lawyer in all
New England, was his fitting partner in any adventure in
statesmanship. These men together gave their best thought
to the development of a proper and permanent form of govern-
ment for the future state of Connecticut.
On May 29, 1638, Roger Ludlow wrote a letter from Wind-
sor to the "governor and brethren of the Massachusetts Bay,"
in which he reported the fact that plans for a better and more
adequate government were under consideration in Connecticut.
From what he wrote and from what happened almost immedi-
ately in regard to the government of Connecticut and five years
later in regard to the Confederation of New Englandj, it is
evident that Ludlow was planning first to create a local govern-
ment for Connecticut, which should enable all the river towns
to work together, and then to unite with Massachusetts for
30 OLD WINDSOR
protection against 'the Dutch, the French, and the Indians,
whom he undoubtedly had in mind when he used the word
"opposers."
Roger Ludlow's Letter
With some changes in the quaint language of his message
this is the gist of what he wrote : At a recent general assembly
of the plantations on the Connecticut river consideration was
given to matters that might concern the general good of these
parts. The settlers realized that in case of need they would
have few friends to aid them and no likelihood of any aid from
foreign parts. Therefore it is the part of wisdom to improve
our opportunities and to combine and unite ourselves to work
and live peaceably and lovingly together so that if there be
cause we may join heart and hand to maintain the common
cause and to defend our privileges and freedom against all
opposers and we doubt not your wisdom will easily conceive
that the way to continue our love to each other and to live in
peace is to adopt some rules, articles, and agreements by which
we may be regulated and to which we may have recourse as
the foundation upon which our peace and love may be estab-
lished.
He closed with a request that John Haines, William
Pyncheon, and John Steele acting as commissioners in behalf
of Connecticut might come to some agreement with the gov-
ernor as to what ought to be done. The letter was signed
"R. Ludlowe, in the name of the whole."
If any proof were needed to substantiate the claim that
many minds were working together to lay the foundations of
a new government, this letter coupled with the action that fol-
lowed it would seem to furnish that proof.
Just how much credit should be given to each man for the
final result of their concerted action we do not know. We only
know that Thomas Hooker was the man to whose lot it fell to
publish the new plan to Connecticut and the world. The occa-
sion for this historic event was the session of the General Court
at Hartford, May 31, 1638, just two days after Roger Ludlow
had written his letter to the governor of Massachusetts. To
GOVERNMENT 31
those assembled at that court Thomas Hooker preached the
most famous sermon that has yet been preached in America, a
sermon that made his name renowned both in America and in
Europe. The subject of his address was "The fundamental
Principles of Civil Government." Among other things he said :
That the people have the divine right to appoint their
own public officers.
That the people ought to exercise this right thought-
fully and in the fear of God.
That the people who appoint the officers also have the
right to say what shall be the powers and duties of the
officers that they choose.
Thomas Hooker gave two good reasons for the statements
he had made:
The true authority for a government is the free con-
sent of the people.
When the people choose their own rulers they will be
more likely to love the persons chosen and more ready to
obey them.
Now the project was launched. The next step was to put
it into legal form and prepare for its ratification or adoption.
There is no record of the appointment of a committee to per-
form this all important task but a committee did perform the
work and we have the result.
Of course the chief legal adviser of the colony, the presi-
dent of their General Court, the man whose preeminence in legal
skill and learning was recognized by all, would do the actual
drafting. Of course, also, Roger Ludlow would consult wdth
Hooker, Haynes, Wolcott, Warham, and other leaders with
whom he was in close and constant association.
These men took seven months to draw up their plan for a
government. When they were ready to make their report, the
representatives of the three Connecticut towns met at Hart-
ford to listen to the reading of the new constitution. What
changes, if any, they made in this constitution after it was read
to them we do not know, but they agreed to adopt it as the plan
for their government. It bound the towns together into one
independent state and contained eleven general rules called
Orders for making all needed laws for the future. These rules
32 OLD WINDSOR
were called the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut. Six of the
most important principles of this constitution were the follow-
ing:
All the authority of government comes directly from
the people.
The form of government shall consist of a governor,
a body of magistrates, and deputies or representatives
chosen by the towns.
There shall be no taxation without representation.
The number of men that the towns shall choose to
make their laws shall be in proportion to the population of
the towns.
All freemen who take an oath to be faithful to the
state shall have the right to vote.
New towns may join the three original towns and
live under the same government.
This first constitution became the model for all constitu-
tions that have since been adopted in America. Many changes
and additions have been made to it in Connecticut, while other
states have changed it to suit themselves, but everywhere in the
United States and in other republics the teachings of Thomas
Hooker and Roger Ludlow have shown men how to form good
governments.
At the end of this constitution as given on the colonial
records under date of January 14, 1638, we read : "The eleven
orders abovesaid are voted." January, which was then the
eleventh month of the year, is now the first month and we
naturally use the date, January, 1639.
This constitution is regarded as the first in the history of
the world that created a new government and prescribed how
the people who created it and were to live under it should be
governed.
How did it come to be? Can we explain its origin and
form? Was it a development and adaptation of laws, prin-
ciples, and practices with which its authors were already fa-
miliar or was it a new creation for a new purpose and a new
occasion? It was both.
GOVERNMENT 33
Original Sources
Its machinery for governing was mainly the result of
adaptation. The town-meeting was an institution centuries old
in England. In fact it was in principle the oldest form of civil
government known to man and was in common use among the
ancient Greeks and Romans. True, in the centuries immedi-
ately preceding the emigration of the Connecticut settlers the
English town-meeting had lost much of its democratic char-
acter, but its history was well known to such men as Ludlow
and his associates. Moreover much that the town-meeting had
lost in England the parish had preserved and the parish gen-
erally coincided with the town in area. The parish taxed itself
by means of "church rates" to meet the parish expenses. The
parish appointed a clerk to keep the records that would have
been kept by a town clerk, and other officers of the parish were
the constable, the surveyors of highways, overseers of the
poor, wardens who were the counterpart of the modern select-
men, and several more who corresponded to the New England
town officers of today.
Ail these officers and their duties were made a part of the
machinery of government in the Massachusetts Bay settlement
before the emigration to Connecticut. There were modifica-
tions and adaptations to meet new conditions and doubtless
Roger Ludlow had helped to draft some of the ordinances by
which they were made to serve the purposes of the Massachu-
setts General Court for in article ten of the Fundamental
Orders we find him using practically the same ideas and lan-
guage that are found in one of the Massachusetts laws adopted
in 1634.
But the framers of the Fundamental Orders did not derive
all their ideas from the practices of Massachusetts nor from
the laws and customs of England. To begin with, the basic
concept of the source of authority in government was different
in the Fundamental Orders from anything their framers had
known in England or in Massachusetts. They had fled from
England because of tyranny and oppression — because democ-
racy was suppressed and crushed. They had hoped to find
democracy in Massachusetts but they were disappointed. John
34 OLD WINDSOR
Cotton, the oracle of the Bay colony, declared, "Never did God
ordain democracy for the government of the church or people."
Governor John Winthrop defended a government by the supe^
rior few, "because the best part is always the least and of that
best part the wiser part is always the lesser." In opposition
Thomas Hooker said "In matters which concern the common
good a general counsel chosen by all to transact businesses
which concern all I conceive under favor most suitable to rule
and most safe for the relief of the whole." In Massachusetts
none but church members could vote or hold office. Under the
Fundamental Orders every properly prepared freeman in Con-
necticut was a voter. Massachusetts was an aristocracy. Con-
necticut was a democracy. It was the love of democracy that
drove Ludlow, Hooker, and their associates from Massachusetts
to Connecticut and caused them to create a new kind of cion-
stitution that could make the popular will supreme in civil
government.
Then there was the method of expressing that will in the
choice of officers. They established the use of the written
ballot and devices intended to guard the voter against intimi-
dation before the casting of his vote and revenge or persecu-
tion afterwards. Long years and a bitter struggle had to pass
before England would tolerate anything of the kind but his-
tory credits Thomas Hooker with being its successful advocate
in 1639.
Again the form of the document was something new in
English history. It had no counterpart in England or in Mas-
sachusetts. But it did have a counterpart, tho an imperfect
one, in the compact of the Union of Utrecht adopted in 1579
and serving as the virtual constitution of the Dutch Republic
during the three years Thomas Hooker had lived in Holland
and for more than a century afterwards. This compact can
never take away from the Fundamental Orders the distinction
they have received of being the first written qonstitution of
their kind and purpose, for the origin, the purpose, and the
character of the compact made it distinctly different from the
constitution of Connecticut, but the two have similarities
enough to suggest that the older document furnished some
of the inspiration for the newer.
GOVERNMENT 35
First there is the preamble of the Pact which sets forth
the object of the union of seven states that became the Dutch
Republic. The preamble of the Fundamental Orders sets forth
the object of the union of Windsor, Hartford, and Wethers-
field. The Pact agrees that the Dutch provinces shall remain
eternally united as if they were one province. The Fundamen-
tal Orders declare that the people of the three towns "doe
therefore associate and conjoyne our selves to be as one Pub-
like State or Commonwelth." Both documents affirmed their
intention to maintain and preserve the privileges and practices
of the established churches. Both documents made provision
that the burden of taxation should be equitably and evenly
borne by the people.
When we remember that in the century in which Connecti-
cut was settled the Dutch Republic was the foremost champion
of political and religious liberty in Europe and that many of
the leaders of the English groups who came to New England
had spent years in Holland before crossing the ocean, we are
not surprised to find evidences of Dutch influence in the coni-
stitution of Connecticut and in the laws, customs, and prac-
tices that developed later both in Connecticut and in other
colonies. The Dutch declaration of independence made in 1581
was undoubtedly the prototype of our own declaration made in
1776, and our free school system, and many of the practices
in our courts of justice and our civil and religious institutions
owe much to the land where our fathers were in exile.
Further Developments
Having adopted the Fundamental Orders Connecticut had
a constitution which furnished the foundation and the frame-
work on which to build a model civil government but the
details of the superstructure required infinite study, thought,
and patience and had to be developed and added thru the years
that followed.
Almost immediately, in fact on the very day that the
Fundamental Orders were adopted, the General Court passed
an ordinance prescribing how the treasurer should disburse
the public money and pay bills. One month later another ordi-
36 OLD WINDSOR
nance provided for the appointment of officers to inspect the
arms, military equipment, and provisions in each town four
times a year and return an inventory to the town court of the
arms found defective. Wilham Hill was appointed to perform
this duty in Windsor.
On August 15, 1639, it was found necessary to raise a
force of one hundred men and lay a tax of one hundred pounds
to carry on a punitive expedition against the Indians at Mat-
tabeseck (Middletown), where several Indian murderers were
said to receive protection from the Indian chief Sowheag. How
many men Windsor sent on this expedition is not recorded but
Windsor's share of the tax was twenty-eight pounds, six
shillings, and eight pence.
Before the end of the same month of August further
trouble with another band of Indians called for aid from
Windsor. This time it was reported that the Pequots who had
been taken captives in the war of 1637, had a crop of corn
growing on land which they had been forbidden to cultivate,
and forty men were instructed to take possession of the corn
and harvest it. Windsor's quota for this enterprise was seven-
teen men. Captain John Mason was one of the men appointed
and doubtless served as the leader of the expedition against
the offenders whom he had captured two years before.
In October, 1639, the General Court conferred upon each
town the privilege of local self government. Each town was
given authority to sell or otherwise dispose of the land which
had been purchased and owned by the community as a whole.
This applied to most of the land in the town of Windsor as
the title to very little had been acquired by individuals. Each
town was also given full authority to choose its own officers
and to pass ordinances for the management of town affairs
subject to the provision that such ordinances should be in
harmony with the constitution and the supreme laws of the
colony. The town was to select three, five, or seven of its
leading citizens, one of whom should serve as moderator, to
hold a meeting every two months in order to settle all contro-
versies over debts and damages where not more than forty
shillings were involved, to administer justice, and to execute
GOVERNMENT 37
the town ordinances. Here was the beginning of our system
of electing selectmen.
The town was also required to provide a "Ledger Biook
with an Index or Alphabet unto the same," in which to record
the location, extent, and boundaries of every man's property,
and "all bargaines or mortgages of land whatsoever" were to
"be accounted of noe value untill they be recorded." A
"Towne Clei^ke or Register" should be chosen yearly whose
duty it was to keep these records and to make a copy every
six months of all "graunts, bargaines or ingagements recorded
by him in the Towne Booke" during the preceding half year
and delvier this copy to the secretary of the General Court.
Bray Rossiter was chosen as Windsor's first town clerk and
held the office until 1651 when he removed to Guilford and was
succeeded by Matthew Grant, who, until that time had been
the principal land surveyor for Windsor. The selectmen were
farther authorized and instructed to serve as a court of pro-
bate and be responsible for the proper registration of all wills
and the settlement of all estates.
Tho the settlers had little serious trouble with the River
Indians, who had welcomed their coming, they still lived in
constant fear of attack from the less friendly natives living
in the distant sections of the colony and in Rhode Island and
Massachusetts. On this account a movement was set on
foot during the summer of 1640 to bring about a union or
confederation of all the settlements in Connecticut and Massa-
chusetts according to the plan mentioned months before by
Roger Ludlow in his letter to" Governor Winthrop. While its
main purpose was protection from the Indians there were
other important considerations that led to the formation of
this New England Confederacy which was actually organized in
1643 and continued to have a share in the government until it
was dissolved in 1684.
Besides the dangers from the Indians there was fear of
trouble from the Dutch at Manhattan and on the Hudson, who
still showed hostility to the plans of the English for further
settlements and expansion and also sold firearms to the
Indians.
38 OLD WINDSOR
On the north, moreover, the French were regarded with
suspicion for they were jealous of the growing power of the
English and they, too, sold firearms to the Indians. Then there
were many interests that all the colonists shared in common
and it was thought that a body of commissioners representing
all the colonies could devise plans and make recommendations
for the good of all, and these recommendations could be made
into laws by the General Courts, if they approved. This New
England Confederacy included the four colonies of Connec-
ticut, New Haven, Massachusetts Bay, and Plymouth. The
settlements in Maine were excluded because their leaders were
not on good terms with the leaders of Massachusetts Bay, and
Rhode Island was not invited because Roger Williams and his
followers were regarded as heretics who would contaminate
their Massachusetts and Connecticut neighbors.
This confederacy rendered manyjmportant services in the
way of maintaining peace between the settlers and the enemies
they feared. It also made many recommendations that became
laws and directly concerned the people of Windsor along with
the people of many other towns.
One of the earliest of these laws that was passed upon
the recommendation of the New England commissioners,
prescribed the method for collecting money to pay the min-
isters' salaries. It prescribed that all the members of the
parish should be called together and each one asked to state
how much he was willing to contribute for the support of the
church and if he refused to contribute what the town officials
thought was his fair proportion of the necessary expense,
then the officials should determine what he ought to pay and
compel him to pay it the same as any other legal debt.
Another law that originated in the same way shows us
how Windsor contributed to the support of Harvard College
in 1644 and for many years after that date. Every family that
was able to do so was requested but not compelled to give eac'h
year a peck of corn or its equivalent in value for the support
of worthy and needy students at the college. In 1644 William
Gaylard and Henry Clarke were appointed collectors to receive
the corn for the college.
GOVERNMENT 39
At the end of the first year under the new constitution
Roger Ludlow, who had served the colony as deputy governor,
was called upon to prepare some new laws that should prescribe
the action to be taken in cases of sudden deaths that happen
either by accident or by violence and in cases of persons who
die without having made a will to dispose of their estates. He
was also asked to draw up a special act prescribing the author-
ity of the magistrates to inflict corporal punishment and
another act regulating the sale and ownership of land.
In April, 1646, the General Court assigned to Roger Lud-
low a still more extensive and important undertaking, nothing
less than the drafting of a complete body of statutes for Con-
necticut. The record reads: "Mr. Ludlowe is desiered to take
some paynes in drawing forth a body of Lawes for the govern^-
ment of this Commonwelth, & prsent them to the next
Generall Court." This Herculean task could not be performed
even by a man of Roger Ludlow's ability in a single year and it
was not until May, 1650, that this famous code of laws was
"concluded and established."
This body of laws known to history by the familiar desig-
nations, ''Ludlow's Code" and the "Code of 1650," was probably
the most complete and exhaustive body of statutes that had
then been created in America. It was intended to provide for
every need and situation that was of vital concern to the grow-
ing colony. A few selections from the vast number of legal
provisions will indicate something of the character and temper
of the times.
1. No person was to be arrested or imprisoned for
debt so long as he had property that could be used to sat-
isfy the just claims made against him. But if a debtor
had property which he withheld from the officers of the
law and thus prevented the settlement of his debt, then
he could be arrested and imprisoned and kept in prison
at his own expense until he made a just and satisfactory
settlement of the claim.s against him.
2. If any man was found to have developed the habit
of "vexing others with unjust,frequent, and needless sutes,
it shall bee in the power of the Courtes both to reject his
cause, and to punish him for his Barratry" (unjust use of
the courts).
40 OLD WINDSOR
3. Burglars were to be branded on the forehead
with the letter B. Murderers, witches, blasphemers, kid-
napers, and ten other classes of criminals were to be put
to death.
4. The selectmen should "have a vigilant eye over
theire brethren and neighbors" to make sure that they
taught their children or employed others to teach them
"so much learning as may inable them perfectly to read
the Inglish tounge, and knowledge of the capitall Lawes."
The penalty for a parent who failed to provide this educa-
tion for his child was twenty shillings. Every head of a
family must once each week catechise his children and
servants in the "grounds and principles of religion" so
that they may be able to answer questions "that shall bee
propounded to them out of such Catechismes by their
parents or masters or any of the selectmen." Aill parents
and masters must bring up their children and apprentices
to perform some honest and lawful labor or trade profitable
to themselves and the commonwealth, if they will not or
can not "traine them up in Learning to fitt them for
higher imployments."
If the selectmen should find any head of a family who
failed to give his children the education required, then in
cooperation with two magistrates of the town they were
authorized to take the children and bind them out with some
master or masters until the boys were twenty-one years, of
age and the girls eighteen, and these masters should be respon-
sible for seeing that they received the education required by
law.
The number of Windsor children who were bound to
masters under this law was quite large. The following inden-
ture illustrates a typical case near the close of the eighteenth
century.
A Typical Indenture
This Indenture made & Executed this 20th Day of No-
vember A D 1791, Between Josiah Allyn Ohver Mather Abiel
Griswold and Solomon Griswold Select-Men & Overseers of ye
poor in the Town of Windsor in ye County of Hartford and
State of Connec'- on ye one part And Amos Lawrence of Hart-
ford on ye other part Witnesseth That ye Sd Select-Men &
GOVERNMENT 41
Overseers of ye poor as above, Do by these Presents Put &
Bind to ye Sd Amos Lawrance One Aurelia Drake a Miner &
One of the Poor of Sd Town of Windsor about Six years of Age
as a Servant untill she shall arive at the age of Eighteen years
& no longer
During all which Term of Time she ye sd Aurelia hir Sd
Master shall faithfully Serve, his Secrets keep, his Lawful
Commands Gladly obey she shall not waste hir Sd Masters
Goods not lend them Unlawfully nor Suffer others to do the
Same without Giving hir Sd Master Notice thereof, she shall
not absent hirself from hir Sd Masters Service by Night or
Day without leave, But in all things behave as a good & faithful
Servant During Sd Term And ye Sd Amos Lawrance Doth on
his part Covenant to Provide for ye Sd Aurelia Suitable
Cloathing, Meat, Drink & Lodging in Sickness & Health
During Sd Term And learn hir to read & write well if she be
capable thereof And at the End of Sd Term to Dismiss Sd Ser-
vant with Two good suits of Cloathing one fit for Holidays and
the other for Common Times Likewise a good English Bible In
witness whereof we have hereunto Set our hands & seal this
20th day of November A D 1791
Presents off Josiah Allyn
John Caldwell Solomon Griswold
& - Abiel Griswold
Bar. Deane Oliver Mather
Ajmos Lawrance
5. "No man shall exercise any tyranny or cruelty
towards any brute creatures which are usually kept for
the use of man."
6. Every member of a church congregation who man-
ifested disrespect and contempt for the preaching and
teaching of his pastor should be publicly reprimanded for
the first offence and for the second offence he should
either pay a fine of five pounds or stand for two hours on
a Lecture Day upon a block four feet high and wear upon
his breast a placard on which was written in capital let-
ters, "AN OPEN AND OBSTINATE CONTEMNER OF
GOD'S HOLY ORDINANCES."
7. Every citizen was required to attend religious
services on the Sabbath and on every public fast day or
42 OLD WINDSOR
day of thanksgiving. For every absence without a "just
and necessary cause" the penalty was a fine of five
shilHngs.
8. In Windsor and in each of the other river towns
a guard of twenty men fully armed should be on duty
every Sabbath and lecture day.
9. The constable was required to report idlers^
fowlers (hunters), and tobacco takers to the magistrates-
for punishment.
10. If an Indian meddled with a white man's gun and
anyone was injured as a result either intentionally or
accidentally, the Indian should pay ''life for life, limb for
limb, wound for wound."
11. Profane swearing was punishable by a fine of
ten shillings.
12. "It being one chief e project of that old deluder Sa-
than, to keepe men from the knowledge of the Scriptures
. . and that Learning may not bee buried in the graves of
our forefathers . . it is therefore ordered . . that
every Towneshipp within this Jurissdiction, after the Lord
hath increased them to the number of fifty householders,,
shall then forthwith appoint one within theire Towne to
teach all such children as shall resorte to him, to write and
read, whose wages shall bee paid either by the parents or
masters of such children, or by the Inhabitants in generall
. . . and it is farther ordered that where any Towne
shall increase to the number of one hundred families or
householders, they shall sett up a Grammer Schoole, the
master thereof being able to instruct youths so farr as
they may bee fitted for the University. And if any Towne
neglect the performance hereof above one yeare, then
every such Towne shall pay five pounds pr Annum to the
next such Schoole, till they shall perform this order."
13. "No person under the age of twenty years, nor
any other that hath not already accustomed himselfe to
the use thereof, shall take any Tobadko, until hee hath
brought a certificate under the hands of some who are
approved for knowledge and skill in physick, that it is
useful for him and allso that hee hath received a lycense
from the Court for the same. And . . . it is ordered,
that no man within this Colonye, after the publication
hereof, shall take any Tobacko publiquely in the street,
high wayes, or any barne yards, or uppon training dayes
GOVERNMENT 43
in any open places, under the penalty of six pence for each
offence against this order."
14. If any person had been fined or whipped for any
scandalous offence he should not be permitted to vote or to
serve on a jury until the court should give permission.
15. Whereas wolves were destroying large numbers
of cattle, any person who killed a wolf within ten miles
of any plantation should receive a bounty of ten shillings.
16. No vessel of any description should leave its
home port unless the master thereof had first given to the
Town Clerk a certificate stating what quantity of powder
and shot he had on board, and on his return from any voy-
age he must file with the Town Clerk an account showing
what use or disposition he had made of the powder re-
ported in his certificate. In case he failed to certify the
full amount taken on board, or to report how he disposed
of it, he was liable to a fine equal to the value of the powder
and shot he had concealed. This order was of particular
interest to the shippers of Windsor, who, in the early days
carried on a flourishing trade on the river and at sea.
17. All houses must be "upheld, repaired, and mein-
teined sufficiently in a comely way" and any one who pur-
chased a house lot must within one year build a house upon
it "fitt for an inhabitant to dwell in," unless the court
found reason to grant him a longer time.
18. Grain was to be received for the payment of
taxes and the prices were fixed by law for a period of one
year. By the code of 1650 the price of wheat for the first
year was to be four shillings and six pence per bushel ; of
* peas, three shillings and six pence ; of rye, three shillings
and six pence ; of Indian corn, three shillings. One third
of the amount of any tax bill might be paid in good
wampum.
In January, 1642, (new style), the Rev. Ephraim Huit was
granted the island in the Connecticut river near the Enfiel'd
falls, which was later known as King's Island. What service
Mr. Huit had rendered to entitle him to this land is unknown
and it may be that the grant from the General Court was a con-
firmation of or an addition to rights that he had already
acquired from the Indians.
At the same January session of the court Captain John
Mason, who had led the colonial forces in their attack on the
44 OLD WINDSOR
Pequots in 1637, was granted a tract of five hundred acres of
land in the Pequot country for his own use and five hundred
acres more which was to be for the use of the soldiers who had
served with him in the Indian war.
Another important item of business was transacted at the
January Court of 1642. It was voted that if Windsor would
provide a ferry boat to take passengers across the Connecticut
River the town should be allowed to charge three pence for
transporting a single passenger, two pence for each passenger
when two or more were taken across the river at the same time
and twelve pence for transporting a horse. Apparently no one
in Windsor was ready to undertake the enterprise of managing
the ferry for we hear no more about it until seven years later,
when John Bissell agreed to provide a boat and conduct the
ferry for a term of seven years. This was the beginning of
the famous Bissell's Ferry in 1649.
In September, 1642, the danger from Indians caused con-
siderable anxiety and the General Court passed an order for the
protection of the river towns. Two wardens were charged with
the duty of notifying the people of Windsor in case of any
danger and the town was to keep thirty men always prepared
to rush to the defense of any one who might need protec)tion.
A month later it was ordered that these thirty men should be
provided with coats "basted with cotten wooll and made de-
fensive against Indean arrowes."
In the administration of justice the whipping post played
a frequent and important part. Tradition says that the first
post stood near the meeting house on Palisado Green. In 1643
we find the record of a man sentenced to be whipped for some
offence and then turned over to Captain John Mason, whom
he was ordered to serve during the pleasure of the General
Court. This was apparently an unusually severe punishment,
but this man had been whipped before and had not amended
his ways. In cases where it was desired to make the punish-
ment particularly severe, Windsor offenders were whipped in
Hartford at a cart's tail by order of the General Court and then
sent back home to be whipped again at the whipping post.
GOVERNMENT ■ 45
The problem of keeping the Indians in subjection con-
tinued to cause much anxiety to all the river settlements. In
1643 Captain John Mason was again called upon with others to
arrange for an expedition of eight men to go to Mohegan to
defend Uncas, who had been the friend and ally of the English
during their war with the Pequots. Armed men were ordered
to be in attendance at religious services on every Sabbath or
lecture day and a tax of forty pounds was levied on the colony
to defray the expense of repairing the fort at Saybrook, which
was looked upon as the main defense against hostilities from
enemies coming up the river.
King Philip's War
King Philip's War sent a thrill of horror thruout New
England. Windsor and her neighbors were especially exposed
to danger and constantly on the lookout for attacks. The main
highway between Hartford and Springfield passed thru Wind-
sor and this was alive with hurrying troops and transports of
munitions and supplies. Captain John Bissell, John Bissell,
Jr., Nathaniel Bissell, Captain Daniel Clark, Edward Chapman,
Thomas Strong, John Hosford, Anthony Hoskins, Daniel Hay-
den, Joseph Loomis, Nathaniel Loomis, John Terry, Captain
Samuel Marshall, John Moses, Thomas Moore, John Porter,
Henry Sanders, and Henry Wolcott were enlisted for the service
and each received six shillings and eight pence "on war
account."
Fortunately Windsor escaped the concerted attacks that
devasted some of her neighbors. Simsbury was burned after
her settlers had sought refuge in Windsor. Twenty Windsor
soldiers went to the defense of New London, fourteen were sent
to the relief of Springfield, and twenty-five were sent to New
Haven and Fairfield counties under the command of Captain
Benjamin Newberry. John Colt of Windsor was shot by an
Indian and three detachments of troops were immediately sent
out to scour the country on both sides of the Connecticut River
from Hartford north to Windsor and East Windsor and south
on the west side of the river to Wethersfield. It was ordered
that one fourth of all the soldiers from sixteen to seventy years
46 . OLD WINDSOR
of age should be on guard every day "by turns" and that all
who worked in the fields should work in companies of six with
their arms and ammunition always at hand. Mounted men
daily patrolled the roads from Windsor to Hartford and Sims-
bury. John Grant was sent to Westfield with twenty men to
repel a threatened attack. The Windsor people learned of an
anticipated attack on Springfield. The information was given
to the white people by Toto, a friendly Indian. With others
Toto was commissioned to warn the inhabitants of Springfield
of their danger. On foot and alone according to tradition he
made the journey to Springfield and back during the night
preceding the attack, and due to his warning and to help from
the Connecticut troops, who rushed to their assistance from
Westfield, the citizens of Springfield were saved from complete
destruction.
Fearful for the destruction of their crops, which were now
almost ready for the harvest, the authorities ordered that all
the Indian corn should be gathered immediately and trans-
ferred to "places of best security." "All persons were ordered
to lend every assistance in their power, and the magistrates
were authorized to impress men and teams, this being a time
for all private interests to be laid aside to preserve the public
good."
A large force of Connecticut men was now sent to co-
operate with an army from Massachusetts in an attack upon
King Philip's stronghold in the Narragansett country in Rhode
Island. Samuel Marshall of Windsor commanded one com-
pany. At the Great Swamp fight King Philip's fort was burned
and his warriors destroyed. In this battle five Windsor men
are known to have lost their lives. These men were Captain
Samuel Marshall, Ebenezer Dibble, Nathaniel Pond, Richard
Saxton, and Edward Chapman. John Fitch was wounded and
died after returning to Windsor. (See sketch of his life under
Persons of Note.)
Queen Anne's War
The beginning of the following century found the loyal
citizens of Windsor disturbed by the prospects of another war.
This time it was a European war known on this side of the
GOVERNMENT 47
ocean as Queen Anne's War, in which nobody in America had
any personal interest, but, since England and her allies had
gone to war against France and Spain over the question, Who
i5hall occupy the Spanish throne? theirloyal subjects in America
were expected to aid and support the mother countries. Hence
New England especially was immediately exposed to all the
horrors of a war with the French in Canada and their Indian
allies.
Deerfield, Massachusetts, was burned and the surviving
inhabitants carried off to Canada as prisoners. Everywhere
there was distress, everywhere terror. Connecticut rushed to
the assistance of her neighbors nearer the Canadian border.
Captain Matthew Allyn led a company from Windsor to Wood
Creek, near Albany. From the town records we learn that
Benjamin Newberry, Jr., died at the camp near Wood Creek;
Hezekiah Bissell died near Albany; Sergeant Isaac Pinney,
William Stratton, Stephen Taylor, and Samuel Thrall died
aboard a vessel coming from Albany.
In 1710 Port Royal in Acadia was taken by a little army,
which included three hundred men from Connecticut. The fol-
lowing year a new campaign was undertaken against Canada.
In this campaign Colonel Matthew Aliyn's company included
Joseph Holcomb, Thomas Gillet, Benjamin Howard, Benjamin
Barber, Benedict Alvord, Ebenezer Cook, and Nathan Gris-
wold. They left home July 10, 1711, and returned to Windsor
on October 12 of the same year.
In another company Lieutenant Samuel Bancroft, Joseph
Griswold, Sergeant Nathaniel Pinney, and Isaac Pinney took
part in the expedition to Canada and Roger Wolcott served as
commissary fcr all the troops from Connecticut.
By the treaty of Utrecht, signed in 1713, peace was made
and England secured control of Nova Scotia, Newfoundland,
and the Hudson Bay region. The Indians, however, kept the
■colonists in a state of anxiety and fear as late as 1724, when
Azariah Pinney, Shubald Griswold, and Nathan Watson were
stationed on guard at Litchfield and nine Windsor men did
guard duty for several weeks at Turkey Hills (the western
part of East Granby) .
48 OLD WINDSOR
The War cf Jenkins' Ear
Fifteen years of peace followed. Then the mother country
sounded the call for another war— the war of Jenkins' Ear.
According to the story a Captain Jenkins and his ship had been
seized near the coast of Florida by the Spaniards, who accused
him of smuggling English goods into the Spanish colonies.
The Spaniards failed to find the necessary evidence to convict
him as a smuggler but in their anger they tortured him and
pulled off one of his ears with the remark, "Take it to your
king." When Jenkins appeared before the British parliament
and was asked how he felt about his mistreatment, he replied,
"I recommend my soul to God and my cause to my country."
With hostile feeling already at high tension between the two
countries England was ready to declare war on Spain, which
she did on October 19, 1739.
Connecticut was called upon to send troops to the West
Indies to cooperate with an English fleet in attacks on the
Spanish settlements. Windsor and Wintonbury companies
were in the First Regiment of Hartford County. An unsuc-
cessful attack on Carthagena was followed by an outbreak of
yellow fever more deadly than Spanish bullets. Few of those
who went to this war ever returned. We know but little of
their record. In Captain Henry Allyn's company we know that
Thomas Elgar, Alexander Aivord, Cyrus Jackson, Asahel Spen-
cer, and Aaron Cook went as volunteers. Return Strong, Na-
thaniel Hayden, and Roger Newberry were also members of the
expedition. Roger Newberry died on board his transport,
which was returning from Carthagena to Jamaica.
King George's War
The war dragged on and in 1744 France was involved.
Another throne — the throne of Austria — had become vacant
and England and France became enemies. In England the con-
test that followed was known as the War of the Austrian
Succession. In America it was known as King George's War,
New England troops were now called upon to go against
Canada. Five hundred men from Connecticut under the com-
mand of Lieutenant Governor Roger Wolcott of Windsor
GOVERNMiENT 49
joined with other New England troops and a British fleet in an
attack on Louisburg, Cape Breton Island, then considered the
Gibralter of North America. After a siege of nearly seven
'weeks the fortress surrendered. It was a proud day when
Windsor welcomed home her distinguished hero, Roger Wol-
cott. He records in his journal that an escort of "gentlemen
from Hartford and Wethersfield" accompanied him to his home
in Windsor. There they had a good dinner and "after the Dis-
charge of the Great Artillery and small arms Gave three
Huzzas and parted Good friends."
From Windsor, East Windsor, and Wintonbury we have
the following names of men who served in the various cam-
paigns of this war. Captain Ebenezer Grant, Lieutenant
Thomas Grant, Ensign Gideon Wolcott, Sergeant Thomas
Drake^, Sergeant Thomas Skinner, Sergeant Joseph Deggons,
Clerk Joseph Wokott, Ammi Trumble, Jr., Samuel Watson,
Nathaniel Stoughton, James Harper, Gershom Bartlett^, Jacob
Elmor, William Bissell, John Gaylord, Ebenezer Bliss, Noah
Bissell, Moses Bissell, John Kellogg, Caleb Booth, Jr., Elisha
Munsil, Joseph Egelstone, Benjamin Bancroft, Joseph Bart-
lett, John Osband, John Prior, John Grant, John Grant, Jr.,
John Sikes, Samuel Smith, Jerijah Bissell, Ezra Elgor*^,
Ebenezer Moor'', Samuel Bartlett, Benjamin Cook, Azariah
Grant, Timothy Strong, James Rockwell, Job Rockwell, John
Stoughton, Ephraim Wolcott, Benjamnn Phelps, Joseph Nu-
berry, Zebulon King, Abijah Skinner, Nathaniel Porter, Jr.,
Joseph Elmor, Jr., Robert Wood, John Anderson, Jr., Matthew
Grant, Benoni Olcott, Alexander Wolcott, Israel Stoughton,
Captain David Ellsworth, Lieutenant John Warham Strong,
James Eggleston, Jr., Ezra Loomis'^, Caleb Case^^, James Bar-
nett^, Jeremy Alford^, Thomas Barber*^, Stephen Gillet^.
fi Died in service.
French and Indian War
A lull in hostilities lasted ten years. Then the warfare took
another name. This time it was the French and Indian War
and now the bone of contention was not in Europe but in
America. France and England fought over boundary lines and
the extention of their territory in the New World.
50 OLD WINDSOR
In 1755 five thousand men were sent against Crown Point
but soon returned to their homes with little accomplished.
The following is the muster roll of those whom Captain
Benjamin Allyn of Windsor led on this expedition:
Isaac Tucker, Reuben Crow,* Zaccheus Crow, Lieutenant
Levi Chapin, Noah Hunt, Elijah Barrett, John Hosmer, Patt
O'Conele, Charles Burnham, John Abbot, Hezekiah Welles,
Elijah Evings, George Colton, Daniel Eaton, Jacob Osborn,
Gideon Loomis, Giles Wolcott, Joel Soper, John Eggleston, Jr.,
Abner Prior, Ozias Grant, David Bissell, Jonathan Gillett,
Joseph Moore, Joseph Moore, Jr., Gideon Prior, Silas Wells,
John McMunnen, William Thomson, Eben Belknap, Asher
Isham, Nathaniel Gaylor, John Japhet, Thomas Hawkins,
Reuben Cook, Zebalon Winchell, Robert Westland, Benjamin
Baker, Andrew Shilling, Jonathan Pinney, Jr., Daniel Fiiley,*
Elijah Densiow, Elisha Williams, Sergeant Jonathan Buckland,
Ephraim Parker, Joseph Winchell,* Ebenezer Loomis, Zeph-
aniah Snow, Asa Pinney, Ely Parker, Appleton Hollister, 2nd
Lieutenant Orvis, John Strong, Corporal Jonathan Pinney, Cor-
poral Benjamin Kinney, Eiiphalet Loomis, Sergeant Drake,
Zebulon Winslow, Josiah Standliff, Thomas Jarwell, Keup
Perrigue (Indian). Isaac Drake died at Lake George.
* Remained at Fort Edward to do garrison duty from November,
1755 to March, 1756.
This year (1755) witnessed the expulsion of the French
Canadians from Nova Scotia by the English and colonial troops.
To prevent them from joining and assisting their fellow coun-
trymen they were scattered along the Atlantic coast from
Maine to Florida and some of them were carried as far as
Louisiana. About four hundred of these unfortunate people
were brought to Connecticut and on January 21, 1756, the
legislature ordered them to be distributed among the towns
of the state. Windsor's quota was thirteen. Their later his-
tory is largely lost. According to tradition three of them lived
for a time on Hinsdale Hill where the Hayden Station school
now stands.
In 1756 and 1757 we find the names of Captain Benjamin
Ailyn, Medina Fitch, Moses Griswold, Daniel Brown, Samuel
GOVERNMENT 51
Blecher, Ithamar Bingham, David Phelps, Samuel Stoughton,
and Ammi Trumhle among those who served in the campaigns
near Crown Point and Fort William Henry. In 1758 Elihu
Tudor and Mark Filley were among those who assisted in the
recapture of Lcuisburg, which had been returned to the French
at the close of King George's War.
Between 1759 and 1762 the number of men sent from
Connecticut to the campaigns in eastern New York and at Mon-
treal and Quebec was greatly increased and Windsor sent her
full quota, but the muster rolls do not indicate residence with
sufficient clearness to give the exact number from any town.
W^e can, however, say with assurance that almost every Wind-
sor family had sent a son into some of the struggles of this
long war.
Many a descendant of the early Windsor families will
doubtless be able to find the nam.e of an ancestor in the follow-
ing list, but no contemporary record has been found that
tells how many of them enlisted from the town of Windsor.
"A muster roll of Gen" Lyman's Company" in "Camp
at Montreal, Sept. 4*, 1760."
(Phineas Lyman was from Suffield, Connecticut)
Gen. Phinehas Lyman Dr. How
Capt. Giles Wolcott Dr. Andrus
Lieut. Roger Enos -Ghap. Beckwith
Lieut. Silas Holcomb Corpi, Ajbiether Evans
Ens. John Strong Corp. Dan King
Ens. Elihu Humphrey Corp. Eibenezer Phelps
Sgt. Major Samuel Granger Corp. Elisha Spencer
Qr, Sgt. James Harman Corp. Stephen Holcomib
Sgt. Joel Addams Drummer Eiphraim Goodrich
Sgt. Joseph Marvin Drummer Elijah Reed
Sgt. Oliver Hanchet Drummer Samuel Marvin
Sgt. Ephraim Addams Daniel Enos
Sgt. Shadrack Phelps Nathaniel Griswold
Sgt. John Slaid Francis Griswold
Sgt. Phinehas Southwell John Lewis
Sgt. Eleazer Smith Timiothy Soper
iSgt. Reuben Denslow Aibiether Jones
Sgt. William Ross David Jones
Sgt. Jonathan Allyn E:praphras Wolcott
Sgt, Philander Pinney Moses Fargo
Sgt. Thomas Jerrit Jonathan Bewell
Sgt. Zephany Snow Samuel Blaekmore
Sgt. Jonathan Beaman Berijah Brunson
Clerk Joab Griswold Elisha Pendall
Clerk Nathaniel Humphrey Rosweli Davis
52
OLD WINDSOR
Jonathan Brown
Richard Fitch
Simeon Allin
Austin Phelps
Benajah Webster
Isaac Crowfoot
Phinehas Huxley
Joshua Preston
Ebenezer Burbank
Joseph Towner
Stephen Buckly
Joseph Stoughton
David Allyn
Silas Simans
Thomas Newberry
Jonathan Gillet
Joseph Easton
Thomas Austin
David Allyn, Jr.
Moses Warner
Reuben Phelps
John Rimington
William Middleton
Marshall Stanly
Elias Austin
Hosea Brunson
John Alford
David Spencer
Ebenezer Halladay
Thaddeus Lyman
Brown Beckwith
Enoch Granger
Thomas Williams, Jr.
Dudley Hayse
Jesse Goddard
Jehiel Messenger
Richard Andors
Isaac Goff
Aaron Noble
Moses Holcomb
Shadrack Phelps, Jr.
Primus Hills
Isaac Fosbery
John Williams
John Forward
Joseiph Hinksman
Thomas Davis
Abel Norton
Dan Pomeroy
John Thomas
Joel Peck
Timothy Wills
William Cammel
John Dewey
Benjamin Thrall
Elijah Brunson
William Harrington
Thomas Parsons
Giles Gibbs
The Problems of Peace
Tho Windsor's history thus far has been saddened by
many wars, we must not forget that other things worthy of
record were happening.
There were many other pressing problems calhng for
solution by the young and growing community. In April,
1652, the townsmen voted that "Gorg Phelps and Gorg Pheleps
are appoynted to vew the comon fences one this sid the river.
Also John Porter and Benidiet Alvart (Alford) one the other
side who after publick warning given thay are to goe forth
within on sevennight and those whose fences thay shall find
insufiicient against cattel thay shall returne thare names into
ye Townes men who shall have power to laye such damages as
shall after be dun by meanes of those insufficient fences."
Under date of Aug. 20, 1652, is the following typical record
of a town meeting of the period.
GOVERNMENT 53
"Thear ware debities chossen for ye Ginrall court to be
holden on ye 9 day of September following
Mr (William) Phelpes
Dekn Gayler (Willaim Gaylord)
John Bissell
David Wilton
Also Mathew Grant was chosen to be Tawne Gierke.
And for Townes men for ye yeare insewing or till others
be chossen ware Dekn Gayler moderator, Daniel Wilton, John
More, John Bissell, Thomas Ford, John Strong, Mathew Grant."
The number of townsmen or selectmen was seven until the
year 1657. For the next 112 years the number was usually five
tho at least twice the number went back to seven and later went
down to three, which number appears as late as 1768. Then
four were elected annually from 1769 to 1830. In 1831 the
number was reduced to three and has remained unchanged
since that date. In 1697 they were called Selectmen on the
town records and the name "Townsmen" later disappeared.
By 1640 the plantation, as the settlement was then called,
had begun the distribution of land, which at the very first was
held in common. Now and in the years following it was
divided up and assigned to the original settlers. Each settler
received a "Home Lot" and usually other tracts, which would
give him land for cultivation, meadow land, and wood land.
Naturally the home lots were grouped thus providing everyone
with neighbors for protection and social cooperation.
On October 10, 1640, John Warham, the pastor of the
Windsor church, was granted seven separate lots : a home lot
containing sixteen acres; twenty-four acres in the Great
Meadow; three acres "over the Great River;" a tract twenty
rods wide and three miles long east of the Great River ; a tract
forty rods wide and three miles long over the Great River ; two
acres of land with a mill on it ; a wood lot west of the mill. This
mill tho changed and remodeled still stands on Poquonock
Avenue.
February 6, 1640, Walter Fyler was granted six separate
tracts of land, one of them being described as "in the Palazado
one parcell of land with his Dwelling House." This house en-
54 OLD WINDSOR
larged and changed is today the home of the Windsor Historical
Society,
Large tracts of land were still held in common and used
for the benefit of all. As late as 1758 a to'wn meeting voted
that we "doe order yt all the common fields, both on this side
and the other side the Great River be freed of corne" in order
that cattle may be pastured upon them.
Gradually the simple government of the early days became
more varied and a larger list of officers with special duties had
to be chosen. In 1662 the state had received a charter from
the king and it now seemed fitting that the towns should
receive charters or patents from the state. Accordingly Wind-
sor received the following in 1685 :
The Patent of the Town of Windsor
Whereas the General Court of Conn, have formerly grant-
ed the proprieties of ye towne of Windsor all thefe lands both
upland and meadow, within thofe abuttments upon Hartford
bounds by ye great river where ye fence of there meadow stood
and to run as ye said fence runs till it meets with a red oak tree
marked for ye bounds standing within ye neck of fence in Thos.
Butler's land and from ye tree it runs a wefterly line till it
meets with brick hill swamp and then runs due north half a
mile till it comes neere to ye head of ye brick hill swamp and
from thence wefterly till it meets with Farmington bounds and
abutts west on Farmington and Symsbury bounds and north in
ye commons and it extendeth from Hartford bounds on ye
South, North to a tree marked neere ye great river two miles
above a brooke kno'wn by ye name of Kettle brooke. On ye
eaft side of Conn, river it abutts on a great elm on ye south
side of Podunk River and runs Eafterly three miles and then
south half a mile and from ye half miles end it runs Eaft five
miles and Abutts on ye Commons on ye eaft from sayd Hart-
ford bounds, ye whole breadth till it extendeth two mile above
ye forenamed Kettle brooke both on ye Eaft and Weft side of
Conn, river ye said lands having been by purchaf e or otherwif e
lawfully obtained by ye Indian native proprietors. And where-
as the proprietors the fore said Inhabitants of Windsor, in the
GOVEIRNMENT
Colony of Conn, have made application to ye Govenor and
company of ye sayd Colony of Conn, afsembled in Court May
25 1685 that they may have a pattent for ye confirmation of ye
afore said land soe purchased and granted to them as afore-
said and which they have stood siezed and quietly pofsefsed of
for many years late paft without interruptaion. now for a
more full confirmation of ye aforefaid tract of land as it is
butted and bounded aforesaid unto ye present proprietors of ye
side to'wnfhip of Windsor, in their pofsefsion and enjoyment qf
ye premifes Know ye yet ye Govenor and Company afsembled
in General Court according- unto ye Commifsion granted to
them by his Majaftie in this charter have given granted and
by thefe prefents do give grant ratifie and confirm unto Capt.
Benj. Newberry, Capt. Daniel Clarke, Lut. Thomas Allyn, Hen-
ry Wolcot, Mr. Thomas Bissell, Sr. Mr. George Griswold and
Mr. John Moore and ye rest of ye prefent proprietors of ye town-
ship of Windsor their heirs, succefsors and afsigns for ever
ye fore side parcell of land as it is butted and bounded together
with all ye woods, meadows, paftures, ponds, waters, riverets,
lands, fishing, huntings, fowlings, mines, mineralls, quarries
and pretoise stone uppon or within ye tract of Land and ail
other promts and commodites thereon belongmg, or m any-
wife appertayning and doe alsoe grant unto ye aforefaid and
ye rest of ye proprietors inhabitants of Windsor their heirs suc-
cefsors and afsigns forever V aforefaid tract of land shall be
for ever hereafter deemed, reputed and be an intire township
of itself To have and to hold ye tract of land and premifes
with all singular their appurtenances, together with ye
privilege and immunities and f ranchif e herein given and grant-
ed into ye and others ye prefent proprietors, Inhabitants of
Windsor, their heirs succefsors and afsigns forever and to ye
only proper use and behoof e of ye and other proprietors. Inhab-
itants of Windfor, their heirs succefsors and afsigns accordmg
to ye tenor of East Greenwich in Kent in free and common
occage and not in capitte nor by Knights service th^j to make
improvements of ye same as they are capeable according to ye
cuftome of ye country, yielding rendering and paying there-
fore to our Sovereign Lord ye King his heirs succefsors and
afsigns his dues according to Charter.
50 OLD WINDSOR
In witnefs whereof we have caufed ye seal of ye Colony to be
hereunto affixed this 28 day of Sovreign Lord James Ye Second
of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, King defender of the
■'■^^^^- Robert Treat Governor
John Allyn Secretary
In addition to the townsmen, the town clerk, and the con-
stables, we find in 1687 that the town meeting chose way-
wardens, whose duty it was to keep the highways in repair;
perambulators, who examined the boundary mar^ks between
Windsor and the adjoining towns to see that no one disturbed
them; fence viewers, who required every property owner to
see that his cattle were kept where they belonged by means of
proper fences ; hawards or howards, who took charge of stray
cattle, pigs, sheep, and geese, and cared for them in one of the
town pounds until their owners appeared and paid for the dam-
age and expense they had caused; hsters, who assessed the
taxes and made the rate bills ; and collectors, who collected the
taxes and placed the money in the custody of the treasurer.
By 1768 the list of town officers had grown still more. In
that year we find three selectmen, a town clerk, a town treas-
urer, five constables, four grand jurors, four tythingmen, five
listers, five collectors, ten surveyors of highways, five branders
of horses, three sealers of leather, five packers of tobacco, one
sealer of weights, two sealers of measures, three fence viewers,
and one howard. The duties of these officers corresponded to
the duties of similar officers today with the exception of the
tythingman, who has no real counterpart in modern times.
During the church services he had the care of the children,
who were separated from their parents and seated together in
the gallery of the meeting house. He also had to bear the
responsibility of seeing that the older folks kept awake during
the long sermons, and for this purpose it was his privilege to
carry a long wand or pole on the end of which was a fox's tail.
Whether or not this privilege was actually exercised in the
Windsor church we do not know. We simply know that it was
a custom in the Congregational churches of the time and the
Windsor church has left no record that the duties of its tyth-
ingman were unlike the duties of tythingmen generally. He
GOVERNMENT 57
was in effect a Sunday constable to uphold the dignity of the
church service and the observance of all laws and ordinances
pertaining to the Sabbath.
How the town handled cases of undesirable "transients"
is well illustrated by the following warning issued by the
selectmen in 1769:
A Warning to Transients
We the Subscribers Hereunto Select Men for the Town of
Windsor Aforesaid for the Currant Year Do Hereby warn and
Order you fourthwith to Depart Out of and Leve the Town of
Windsor you Not Being Hear Any Lawfull Inhabitant and
upon your Nglect or Refusal to Comply Here with you May
depend upon the Execution of the Law of this Colony Entitled
an Act for the Admission of Inhabitants into Town &c as in
Colony Law Book Page 99. & So on May Appear, and Not to
Eeturn into Said Town of Windsor Any More to Make it your
Place of Abode, Without proper Admittance According to Said
Statute Law Dated at Windsor this 30*^ Day of June Anno
Dom 1769
To Either of the Constables
of the Town of Windsor Af ores*
to Serve and return to ... . "^^
Josiah Bissel Esq'^ Just. Peac
in & for Hartford County .
pe'" Order of
Josiah Phelps ) ^ ,
William Manley [ ^,7^^^
Henry Allyn ) ^^^^"
Calling a Pastor
Church and state were closely tied together until after the
Revolutionay War. Hence the calling of a minister rated both
as a civil and a religious function, tho each church society was
responsible for the selection and support of its leader. Under
date of 1775 we find the following letter, which explains how
the First Church Society called its minister in that year.
58 OLD WINDSOR
Windsor, October 16th, 1775.
To the firft Society in Windfor.
Gent. Your Vote of the Sixth day of Sept. laft relative to the
Stipulated Sum and other Confiderations perticularly
expressed in said vote, as encouragement for my tak-
ing the paftoral care and charge of your Chh. and
Societj^, I have maturely to consider and must think
them inadequate for the propof ed purpof e ; But relying
upon it that you mean and intend a decent and com-
fortable fupport and confidering your propofsed
uninimity, I do hereby accept of your invitation and
clofe with your propof al chearf ully taking upon me the
paftoral relation of your Chh. and Society, depending
upon the power of Divine grace, the aid and afsistance
of the blefsed Spirit of God to enable me faithfully
and impartially to discharge the refpective duties of a
minister of the new Teftament To Which office I have
solemnly been set apart according to Apoftolic Direc-
tion, and am yours in the faith and fellowship of the
Gospel.
David Rowland.
Windsor in the Kevolution
The outbreak of the Revolutionary War added heavy bun-
dens to the town of Windsor. The following statements and
excerpts from the records help to understand how the town
met the great crisis.
Before the first gun of the Revolution was fired on Lexing-
ton Green, April 19, 1775, Windsor was already actively and
effectively engaged in giving material support to the Massa-
chusetts patriots in their resistance to British oppression.
When the British government attempted to starve the people
of Boston into submission because of their part in the famous
Boston Tea Party, Windsor's attitude was promptly shown by
the following communication addressed to Jonathan Mason of
Boston.
Windsor, March 20, 1775.
Mr. Jonathan Mason,
Sir : We being appointed by this town to receive donations
for the poor of Boston, and as we understand you are one to re-
ceive them, have directed Capt. Smith to deliver you what grain
GOVERNMENT 59
we have collected for that purpose, viz., 391 bushels rye, 891/^
bushels corn, and half barrel of pork.
We are your humble servants,
James Hooker.
Oliver Mather.
Two days later a similar communication was sent "To the
Overseers of the Poor in Boston" by William Wolcott repre-
senting a committee for the daughter town of East Windsor.
When the news of the "Lexington Alarm" reached Wind-
sor it took but a few hours for Capt. Nathaniel Hayden, Jr.,
to organize an "alarm party" of 24 men and start for the
relief of Boston. From East Windsor 4 companies of "alarm
men" totaling 148 men were organized for the same purpose
under the command of Captains Lemuel Stoughton, leader of
the Scantic Train Band, Amasa Loomis, with the South Parish
Train Band, Matthew Grant, with the Wapping Train Band,
and Charles Ellsworth, with the Ellington Train Band.
It was learned, however, that the situation at Boston was
not so critical as to demand the immediate presence of these
men and in a few weeks most of them had returned to their
homes.
How the expense of this expedition was met is shown by
the following records taken from the original documents re-
ferring to Captain Hayden's Company. The first document
shows how the money was collected from the treasurer of the
colony of Connecticut. The second shows how it was paid to
the men of Capt. Hayden's Company by the selectmen of
Windsor.
Colony of Connecticut to Select men of Windsor for
Expense of Capt. Nathl Hayden & Company in y<^
Late Alarm Dr.
1775 April To Wages of Officers & Men Private L 17"16"4
To Billeting Do. 254 Days @ 1-6 19" 1"0
To horse hire 1450 miles @ -2^ 12" 1"8
To forage for Do. 102 Days @ -9^ 3"16"6
To provision caried & D**. To Com-
pany which y'' Company rce*^ None
off 15" 7"6
60 OLD WINDSOR
To transporting- y^ same as the Com-
pany rec^ no Provision 8" 0"0
76" 3"0
Deducted for Billeting- at Colony Ex-
pense 5 men 85 Days— @ 1-6 6" 7"6
69"15"6
June SO*^"^ 1775 Rec^. an Order on the Treasurer for Sixty Nine
pounds fifteen Shillings and Sixpence in full of this Aoct.
Cap*, per Day 4-
Lt 2-8
Ens". 2-
Srjt 1-7
Corpri. 1-51/2
Privete 1-4
Windsor July 17*^ Day Anno Dom 1775 Then We the
Subscribers Did Receive of Henry Allyn Esq. the Sums An-
nexe'i to Each of Our Names Being the Sums Allowed to Each
of us for Our Service Done in an*^ for Connecticut Colony in
the Late Alarm at Boston & c as was Allow^ by the Committee
of the Paytable for Said Colony and Rec* by Said Allyn as One
of the Select Men of Windsor
L s d
Cap* Nath^i Hayden 2 3 0
Nat^ Hayden Jun'".
Corp' Cornelious Russell 1 5 4 2
David Elsworth
Ezra Hayden 14 9
Serg-*= Isaac Hayden
Ruben Denslow 16 0
Reuben Denslow
John Allyn Jun'-. 14 9
John Allyn Jun"".
John Allyn 0 19 0
John Allyn
Elijah Stoughton 2 0 0
Elijah Stoughton
Sergt Sam'. Wing- 1 11 0
Sam'. Wing
pr. Nath' Hayden Junr.
Sam'. Gibbs 2 2 6
Sam'. Gibbs
GOVERNMENT 61
William Davies 2 13 1
William Davis
Lemuel Welch 2 13 1
Nath' Hayden Junr.
Ebeneze'- WooVorth 2 13 1
Jabez Haskell
William Parsons 2 13 1
Josiah Biffell
Wm. Thrall Jun^ 9 19 0
Wm. Thrall J"".
Ge'-shem Weft 1 16 10
Gershom West
Oliver Lee 14 9
Josiah Bifsell
Oliver Hayden 0 16 0
Oliver Heydon
John Roberts 2 2 6
John Roberts
Eb^r. Fitch Biffei - 0 19 0
Eb. Fitch Biffell
David Thrall 14 9
David Thrall
Martin Denslow 14 9
Martin Denslow
Eleazer Gaylord 14 9
Nath Gaylord
Thomas Hayden 16 9
Thomas Hayden
In December, 1775, Dr. Alexander Wolcott, Capt. James
Hooker, Capt. Josiah Phelps, Ensign Jonathan Filley, Jacob
Griswold, Josiah Bissell, Roger Newberry, Henry Allen, Esq.,
and Lieut. Pelatiah Mills were appointed a Vigilance Commit-
tee to ascertain whether or not every man in the town was
loyal to the patriot cause.
Windsor's men were not found wanting in loyalty, devo-
tion, or sacrifice. At least four hundred forty eight who were
natives of or enlisted from the Ancient Town on the West side
of the river and five hundred twenty seven from the parishes
of East Windsor rendered service on fields of action stretching
from Quebec on the North to Yorktown on the South.
62 OLD WINDSOR
July 4, 1776, Hezekiah Hayden, then with the army in
New York, wrote to his father- and mother in Windsor, "Let us
animate and encourage each other, and show to the whole
world that a freeman contending for liberty on his own ground,
is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth."
By the time this letter was written most of the able bodied
men were in the army. Out of nine families who made up the
settlement at Pine Meadow (now Windsor Locks) the heads
of eight had enlisted and Samuel Coy, the other one, enlisted
in 1777. All the lead in the town was bought up for the army.
Not a clock was left running in Windsor because all the weights
had been taken for bullets. The following record helps tell
the story: "Lead delivered to the Towns Men, 1776, clock
wight lead."
Captain Stoughton,
18 pounds
Captain Ellsworth,
30
Rev. Mr. Hinsdale,
13
Josiah Ailyn,
28
David Ellsworth, Jr.,
24
Daniel Hayden,
24
John Allyn,
14
In May, 1776, the General Assembly of Connecticut ordered
the selectmen in the towns of Connecticut to take a census on
or before the first day of the following September. The cen-
sus returns for Windsor show the results in four parishes, the
Old Parish, North Windsor, the Poquonock Parish and the
Wintonbury Parish. The following list of inhabitants was
returned :
Males under ten years 299
Females under ten years 302
Males between ten and twenty years, married 7
Males between ten and twenty years, single 242
Females between ten and twenty years, married 7
Females between ten and twenty years, single 219
Males between twenty and seventy years, married. _ 325
Males between twenty and seventy years, single 134
Females between twenty and seventy years, married 319
GOVERNMENT 63
Females between twenty and seventy years, single 157
Males above seventy years, married 22
Males above seventy years, single 19
Females above seventy years, married 15
Females above seventy years, single 14
NegTO males under twenty years 9
Negro females under twenty years 8
Negro males above twenty years 14
Negro females above twenty years 6
Indian males under twenty years 2
Indian females under twenty years 2
Indian males above twenty years 0
Indian females above twenty years 2
Total 2,124
The following excerpts from the records give glimpses
of the folks at home struggling to support their soldiers in the
army:
"At a town meeting of the inhabitants of the town of
Windsor, lawfully warned and held in Windsor, the 22d of
April, 1777, for the purpose of doing the following business,
viz : 1st, To see what method the town will take to encourage
the proportion of soldiers assigned to the town of Windsor
to enlist into the Continental Army, to supply the quota
assigned to this town.
*"2d. To choose a committee to provide necessaries for the
families of all those persons belonging to the town of Windsor
that shall enlist into the Continental Army at the price as
stated by Law, and at said meeting Doct. Alex Wolcott chosen
Moderator for said meeting.
"To raise a Rate or tax upon the list of the poles and rate-
able estate of the inhabitants of the town of Windsor, made
and computed for August 20, 1776, of so much money upon the
Pound as Will raise Thirty pound Lawful money for each able
bodied effective man that belongs to the town of Windsor that
has already enlisted into the Eight Battalions, including what
they have already received as private encouragement for en-
64 OLD WINDSOR
listing, and are now actually in service in the Continental
Army, or that shall enlist into either of the Eight Battalions
ordered to be raised in the State of Connecticut for Continental
Service on or before the 30th day of April instant, at 12 of the
clock on the same day. Provided that not a larger number than
79 soldiers that shall enlist including the numlber already en-
listed, the first 79 soldiers that shall enlist shall receive said
sum, which said sum shall be paid to each soldier that has
already enlisted or that shall enlist before said 30th day of
April, inst. at 12 of the clock on said day, until said number
be made up."
The census of 1776 showed only fourteen Negro men
more than twenty years of age. Later documents show sev-
eral of these serving in the army. The following records
tell the story of one of them:
Windsor June 10th day 1777 These May Certify All
whom it May Concern That Edward ... a Negro Man
Belonging to the Rev. M''. David Sherman Rowland of Said
Windsor Did on the Day Above Said Inlist Himself as a Privet
Soldier in to the Continental Army and in the Company under
the Command of Me the Subscriber and to Serve for the
Term of war ... or dureing the War Which Company
Belongs to One of Eight Battalions to be Raised by the State
of Connecticut
Certify ed P'". Abner Prior Cap*
Certified on the back as follows :
Windsor August ye 8th 1777 Then I y^ Subscriber did
Receive and order of ye Select men of Windsor upon y" Treas-
uror of S«i Town for y^ Sum of Thirty pounds money payable
two Days after Sight thearof on account of my Negro man
Edward Inlisting into Continental army as within Certifyed
S'l Sum being in Complyance with a Vote of This Town to
Give to Each able body man y* Should Inlist into Either of ye
Eight Battalions of ye Continental troops to be raised by
y State of Connecticut to make up y" Quota of men assigned
to ye town of Windsor and Now in case S'' Edward Negro
man do not pass Muster and answer for one of ye Soldiers
GOVERNMENT 65
assigned for y^ quota of Men assigned to y" Town of Windsor
I Promise to pay S^' Thirty pounds money back to ye Treas-
urer of S'^ Town with y« Lawfull Interest
for y^ Same till the whole be paid as Witness
my hand the Day abouv S''.
Edward Negro
Surtificate David Rowland
December 28th, 1780
Ned Nigro Was Sold to Cap*. Prior
From me and I took it that he Was
Returned for part of the quota for
the town of Windsor
David Rowland
Ammunition
The State to Selectmen of Windsor
1777 To 376 b. 2 oz Lead a 9d.
Running d° into ball a 10-pb
Select Mens Time about d° 6 days a 6d
D° Inspect*^. & Transport^ Salt Pete p Bill
Journey to Hartford to settle &
pays out Money 12
A True Copy as alF. at Pay Table Oct. 23^. 1777
p"^ 0. Ellaworth one of Com"^.
The above Select Men have this day produced &
lodged Rects. & have Credit accordingly for 4,6471/2
lb. Salt Pete d^. at the Powder Mill. Oct. 23^1. 1777
pr- 0. Ellsworth Com«. Pay Table
Food
Voated to raise a Rate or Tax of 12d on the Pound on the
List of the Poles and Rateable Estate of the Inhabitants of
the Town of Windsor made and computed for Aug. 20, 1779
to Defray the six pence on the Pound on said List Ordered
by the General Assembly at their last Session to be Paid in
Beafe, Pork or Flower at the Several Prices mentioned in said
Dr.
£ 14.
2.
1.
1.
17.
6.
1.
16.
1 8.
1.
25.
16.
7.
66
OLD WINDSOR
Act, and every Person that shall Pay his Tax of Six Pence on
the Pound above mentioned, in either of the Articles mentioned
in Said Act by the Time limited in Said Act for the Delivery
of said Article it shall fully Pay and Satisfy Said 12 Pence on
the Pound on said List as Aforesaid.
Voated that John Allyn and Oliver Mather be a committee to
take care and obtain the Salt and Procure Barrels and a Suf-
ficent Number to contain the Pork, Beafe and Flower Menj-
tioned and Pack and salt the same.
Surveys of the town were made to see how much grain
each man had produced. If a man had produced more than
the quota allowed for his family the authorities took the
surplus and sold it or used it for the army. If another man
had less than his quota he could buy from the town enough to
make up the deficiency. An excerpt from one of the survey
sheets showing four names under the letter "A" reads as
follows :
>!
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s-<
_c
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a,
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en "
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m
Q
Lt. Josiah Allyn
5
7-16
10-16
22-16
132
116
84
25
67-24
27-24
Saml W Allyn
9
4-27
208
39
152
24-16
47-16
John Allyn
8
1
34
420
140
47-24
16- 8
John Allyn Jr 4
6
6
45
84
18-16
13-16
The allowance for each person at the time this survey
was made was 8 bushels. Lt. Allyn's allowance for a
family of five was 40 bushels. Hence, having 67 bushels and
24 quarts as his "own property," his surplus was 27 bushels
and 24 quarts. The other three families showed a deficiency.
GOVERNMENT 67
A Family Report of the Stock of Provisions on Hand
A return of Provisions &c in the possession of Alex*"
Wolcott July 1^^ 1780
Viz Salt more than two Bushells — none
Rum more than one Hund'i Gal — none
Beef and Pork more than two Barrels — ^none
Wheat — Flower — 6 Bushells
Rye — 6 Bushells
Indian Corn 23 Bushells
The Family consists of nine persons George Wolcotts
family who live on the same Stock contains three persons —
Windsor July 5^^ 1780 Alex Wolcott
Certificate Showing Right to Purchase
These May Certify that Samuel Rouse is Deficient in
the Quantity of Grain Allow'^ Him for the Allowance of Him-
self ajid family is fourty Eight Bushels accounting is as Indian
Com. According to the Return by him Made To En' Phenihas
Wilson
Certifyed p'^ Henry Allen Register
On the back of this certificate is the following :
Rec<J of Phinehas Wilson One Bushel of Indian Corn —
Samul Rouse
Every bushel of grain received by the Selectmen had to
be accounted for both when it was received and when it was
sold. The following receipt and certificates show how it was
done:
February 21^^ Day ADom 1780
Then Rec^ of Plenry Allyn Two Hundred and Seventy
Dollars in Continental Money it Being for Nine Bushells of
Ry that I the Subscriber or my Brother Timothy Let Cap*
Abner Prior Have About Six Weeks ago which Sum is in full
for the Same.
Rec*^ by Me Daniel phelps
These Certify that Cap* Hez^ Russel hath Deliv^ Three
Hund^ bushels of Rye & Corn, one bb. Pork and two Casks of
68 OLD WINDSOR
Flower in Lyme, which is Dispos^ of for the use of Inhabitants
of The Town of Lyme, & for Soldiers Families
Lyme Ap', 12* 1779
Abel Hall
Sam«^^ Selden
Daniel Lord
Seth Ely
Select
Men
of Lyme
Windsor June 15*^ A Dom 1779
Then I Jonathan Bissell Did This Day Above Said Purchas
of Henry Allyn Two Bushells of Indian Corn Which is In-
dorsed on A Surtificate from East Windsor Town Clerk
Jonathan Bisell
Bill For Supplies
The following bill shows how supplies for the army were
purchased from individuals by the town and transported to
the army at Cambridge. When this was done the town
presented a bill to the colony and asked for reimbursement.
The Colony of Connecticut to the Town of Windsor Dr
To 1 Barrel of Pork Without Bone Wt 21414 3_12— 0
To 1 Barrel of Pork Without Heads or Legs 3 — 6 — 0
To 707"' Grose W* of flower 5— 6—0
To 100 of Bread 1— 5—0
To 4 Barrels for flower Bread &c 0 — 9 — 0
To 71/2 Bushell of Pease 2— 5-0
To 1 Terce for Pease 0— 4-0
To 1 Six Cattel Team To Transport the Above
Articles to Cambridg Out 9 Days & Expences
& Two Men with the team 10 — 0—0
To Procure a Waggon from Poquonock 0 — 3 — 0
To 500 of Hay & Presing 0-14-0
27—04—0
David Elsworth
Henry Allyn
Pel Mills
Select
Men
Windsor October 26-^' A Dom 1775 Then the Subscrib-
ers Did Receive of Henry Allyn the Several Different Sums
Set Over each of Our Names Being on i^jccount of the Above
GOVBRNMENT 69
Articles Sold to the Select men of Windsor to be by them
Transported to Cambridg for the use of the Army.
£ s d
To Cap^ James Hooker for 1 Barrell of Pork 3 — 6 — 0
Rec<* by me James Hooker
To M"^ Alexander Allin 2— 8— 0
Alex^' Allin
To Doc* Hezh Chaffe 11— 5— 4
Hezekiah Chaffee
To John Filley 0— 8—10
John Filley
To Moses Wilson 1 — 4 — 0
Moses Wilson
To Josiah Allyn for 20n> of flower 0— 2— 7
Josiah Allyn
To L* Samuel Filor for 28"' of flower & Bread All 0— 8— 2
Samuel Filer
To Jonathan Elsworth Jr for Teaming &c 2 — 14 — 4
Jonathan Elsworth Jr
Clothing
Dec. 1777 Voated that the Select Men of this Town
Purchase or Procure as soon as may be upon the Best Terms
that they can So many of the Sendry Articles of Cloathing
as Requested by the Governor and Council of Safty at their
meeting at Lebanon upon the 12*-^' of September Last as are
now wanting to make up the Quota assigned to the Town of
Windsor for the Non Commission officers and Soldiers Raised
for the Quota of Soldiers assigned for the Town of Windsor
and that Actuallj^ Inlisted into the Continental Army for the
term of Three years or During the War and forward the Same
to the Commissioners as Requested and Bring in their
Accounts Which Shall be Allowed and Paid by the Town
Including Such Sum or Sums as Shall or May be Received from
the Colony Treasurer or other ways by order of the General
Assembly.
Voated that Nathaniel Griswold Have Twelve Pounds
State Money Paid to him out of the T^'easury of the Town
upon his Procureing one Hundred and Eight Good Large
Well Made Mens Shoes and one Hundred and Eight Pare of
70 OLD WINDSOR
Good Well Made Mens Stockings and Deliver the same to Mr.
Elijah Hubbard Sub clother at Midletown by the tenth Day
of May Next for and on Account of the Quota of Clothing
sho\\m and Stockings ordered by the General Assembly to be
Provided by the Town of Windsor for each Non Commissioned
officer and Soldier Required for this Town Quota of the Connec-
ticut Line of the Continental Army to Serve for three years
or Dureing the War he having no other Demand for the Same
than said Twelve Pounds State money and also What Shall be
Allowed by Paytable for the same.
Voated that Nathaniel Griswold and Salvanus Gris-
wold Shall Take All Benefit that may be Had by a Per-
mit Granted by His Exelency the Governor and counsil of
Safety Granting to The Town of Windsor Liberty To Transport
One thousand Bushells of Indian Corn or Rye or Ry flower
Equivolent thereto to Rhode Island for the Purpose of Pro-
cureing Linning Cloth for frocks Shirts and over Halls for this
Town Quota of clothing for the Army Agreable to the Act or
Acts of the General Assembly upon these conditions that they
Lay out Sixty pounds, Hard money in Linning cloth Proper
Good and Sutable for frocks, Shirts and Over Halls Provided
they Procure the same by the tenth Day of May Next and
Deliver the same to Mr. Elijah Hubbard for and on Account
of the Town of Windsor and to have no other pay for the same
then what said Hubbard Shall apprize the same at and be
Allowed by Pay Table for the same.
The following list, one of many, shows how blankets were
obtained :
Windsor March 7*^ 1777
Then Rec^ of Daniel Bissell the Several Sums affixed to
Our Names which is in full of all y^ blankets Purchased or Im-
pressed by s^' Bissell for the army
David Elsworth
Sarah Stiles
Eliakim Mather
Alex^ Allin
Horace Hooker
Sam' Filer
0
10
—
0
10
0
0
12
0
1
0
0
0
10
0
1
0
0
GOVERNMENT
71
Mary Birge
Lij Stcughton
Ilezekiah Chaffee
1
15
0
1
0
0
1
0
0
17
0
The following orders show how blankets were distributed
to soldiers in service:
East Windsor 30*^ May 1777
Sir
Levi Charter is Inlisted in my Company in the Continental
army, I am order^ to furnish my men with armes and
Blankets by applying to the Select men of the Town where
the men are Recruite*^ Bayonet^ and Cartouche boxes are in-
cluded please to furnish him with the above mentioned
articles and you" Obledge your Humble Serv*
David Parsons Cap*
Muster Rolls
The following is the complete list so far as we have been
able to make one of the Windsor men who served in the
Revolution.
Corp. William Adams
Joseph Alford
Lieut. Benjamin Allen
Elisha Allyn
George Allyn
Job Allyn
John Allyn
John Allyn, Jr.
Joseph Allyn
M'oses Allyn
Solomon Allyn
Thomas Allyn
Samuel Andrus
Joseph Ashford
Philander Atwood
Amaziah Barber
David Bai'ber, Jr.
Capt. David Barber
Jerijah Barber
Reuben Barber
Shubael Barber
Thomas Barber
Oliver Barber
Edward Barnard
Joseph Barnard
Joseph Barnard, Jr,
Samuel Barnard
Moses Barnard
Abel Barnes
Stephen Barnes
Jerimiah Barrett
Henry Barzilla (colored)
Ezra Beckwith
Adoniram Benton
Elihu Benton
Jonathan Bidwell
Ens. Cornelius Bissell
Lieut. David Bissell, Jr.
Sgt. Daniel Bissell
Corp. Elias Bissell
Capt. Ebenezer Fitch Bissell
Ebenezer Fitch Bissell, Jr.
John Bishop
Jedidiah Blanchard
Daniel Bog'ue
John Brister (colored)
72
OLD WINDSOR
Daniel Brown
Elias Brown
Ezra Brown
Corp. Jude C. Brown
Justus Brown
Michael Brown
Samuel Brown, Jr.
Samuel Brownson
Bugbee
Asa Burr
Samuel Burr
Thomas Burr
Zebulon Burroughs
Thomas Burns
Cornelius Cahale
Daniel Cammarum
Patrick Canny
Benjamin Case, Jr.
Benoni Case
Ezekiel Case, Jr.
Gideon Case
Frederick Case
Oliver Case
Luther Center
Isaac Chandler
Levi Chandler
Frederick Chapman
Levi Charter
Benjamin Clark
Daniel Clark
David Clark
Elias Clark
Ezekiel Clark
Ezekiel Clark, Jr.
George Clark
L'a Clark
Moses Clark
Oliver Clark
Solomon Clark
Isaac Cluff
Louis Colton
Samuel Colton
David Colvin
Jabez Colt
Abner Cook
Benjamin Cook
Eli Cook
Joel Cook
Moses Cook
Richard Cook
Shubael Cook
Timothy Cook
William Cook
William Cook (another man)
Timothy Coon
Samuel Coy
Elias Crow
Sampson Cuff (colored)
David Daniels
Burdon Davies
William Davis
Corp. Isaac Day
Job Day
John Day
Elihu Denslow
Elijah Denslow
Joel Denslow
Martin Denslow
Sgt. Reuben Denslow
Samuel Denslow, Jr.
Elias DeWolf
Luke Diggins
Sgt. Stephen Dormant
Abiel Drake
Augustine Drake
Ebenezer Drake
Elihu Drake
Lemuel Drake
Lory Drake
Phineas Drake
John Duset
Philemon Duset
David Eiggleston
Isaac Eggleston
James Eggleston
Joseph Eggleston
Jonathan Eggleston
Nathaniel Eggleston
Samuel Eggleston
Thomas Eggleston
Timothy Eggleston
Eliphalet Ellsworth
Hezekiah Ellsworth
Lieut. Reuben Ellsworth
Phineas Elmer
Daniel Ely
Abijah Enos
Daniel Enos
Erasmus Enos
Corp. James Enos
Moses Enos
Gen. Roger Enos
Horace Filer
John Filer
Norman Filer
Hezekiah Filley
Jonah Filley
David Filley
Elnathan Filley
Mark Filley
Moses Filley
Joseph Fitch
Sgt. Stephen Fosbury
John Fosbury
Chauncey Foster
Zachariah Foster
GOVERNMENT
73
Warham Foster
William Francis
O'badiah Fuller
Reuben Fuller
Eliakim Gaylord
Eleazur Gaylord
David Gibb's
Rufus Gibbs
Sgrt;. Samuel Gibbs
John Giles
Abel Gillet
Aaron Gillet
Daniel Gillet
Jonah Gillet. Jr.
Jonathan Gillet
Thomas Gillet
John Gilman
— ' Graham
Amasa Green
Abiel Gris'wold
Corp. Alexander Griswold
Capt. Ediward Griswold, Jr.
Elijah Griswold
Elisha Griswold
Friend Griswold
Lieut. Georgre Griswold
Isaac Griswold
Ens. Joab Griswold
Jonah Griswold
Sgt. Moses Griswold
Sgt. Nathaniel Griswold
Noah Griswold, Jr.
Thomas Griswold
Phinehas Griswold
Lieut. Silvanus Griswold
Sg't. Solomon Griswold
William Hall
Pliliip Halsey
Hamond (colored)
Ezra Hayden
Sgt. Hezekiah Hayden
Levi Hayden
Capt. Nathaniel Hayden, Jr.
Oliver Hayden
Sgt. Thomas Hayden
Jabez Haskell
Thomas Hayes
Thaddeus Hyde
Tlieophilus Hyde
Elijah Hill
John Hill
Reuben Hill
Amos Holcomb
Elijah Holcomb
Sgt. Joseph Holcomb
Martin Holcomb, Jr.
Matthew Holcomb
Daniel Holliday, Sr.
Daniel Holliday, Jr.
Ephraim Hollis
Daniel Hooker
Alvin Hoolbod
Asa Hoskins
Elijah Hoskins
Pere Hoskins
Timothy Hoskins
Zebulon Hoskins
Simeon Hotchkiss
Alexander Hurlburt
Alvin Hurlburt
William Jacobs
Reuben King
John Keaton
John Lafler
Obed Lamberton, Jr.
Nathaniel Lamberton
William Lamberton
Ahaliab Lattimer
George Lattimer
Sgt. Amos Lawrence
Amos Lawi'ence, Jr.
Oliver Lee
Millard Leavitt
Eliphalet Loomis
George Loomis
Gideon Loomis
Jonathan Loomis
Stephen Loomis, Jr.
Lieut. Watson Loomis
Benjamin Loomis
Eiphraim Loter
Levi Loveland
Elphraim Lovewell
Aaron Lyon
Andrew Mack
(Hessian joined patriot cause)
William Manley
Joseph Marsh
Alexander Marshall
Elijah Marshall
Elihu Marshall
Elisha Marshall
Josiah Marshall
Samuel Marshall, Jr.
Sgt. Elihu Mather
Increase Mather
John Mather
Samuel Mather
Dr. Timothy Mather
John May
Neil McLean, Jr
Joseph Millard
John Miller
Roswell Miller
Elijah Mills, Jr.
Roger Mills
74
OLD WINDSOR
Oliver Mitchell (Colored)
Asa Moore
Benjamin Moore
Eldad B. Moore
Elislia Moore
Philander Moore
Simeon Moore
Sgt. James Morris
William Monroe
Samuel Monroe
Cor.p. Alpheus Munsell
N>ed Negro
(Slave of David S. Rowland)
Israel Negus
Gen. Roger Newberry
Moses Niles
Thomas Niles
Roswell Nobles
Alvan Owen
John Palmer
Peletiah Parsons
William Parsons
Thomas Parsons
Aaron Perkins
Alexander Phelps
Austin Phelps
Asahel Phelps
Corp. Cornelius Phelps
Daniel Phelps, Sr.
Daniel Phelps, Jr.
Eli Phelps
Elijah Phelps
Corp. Elisha Phelps
Edward Phelps
Elihu Phelps
Enoch Phelps
Sgt. Isaac Phelps
Isaac Phelps, 2nd
Jesse Phelps
Job Phelps
Corp. John Phelps
Jo si ah Phelps
Timothy Phelps, Jr,
Launcelot Phelps
Oliver Phelps
Capt. Seth Phelps
Corp. William Phelps
Zaccheus Phelps
Phineas Pickett
Aaron Pinney
Abram Pinney
Isaac Pinney
Sgt. John Pinney
Jonathan Pinney
Juda Pinney
Corp. Levi Pinney
Sgt. Martin Pinney
Nathaniel Pinney
Noah Pinney
Phylaster Pinney
Jonathan Pomeroy
Daniel Porter
Daniel Porter, Jr.
Capt. Abner Prior
Allen Prior
Sgt. Abner Prior, Jr.
Dr. Primus (colored)
Providence (colored)
Plymouth (colored)
Daniel Rice
Clark Roberts
John Roberts
Capt. Lemuel Roberts
Paul Roberts
Peter Roberts
Daniel Rowel
John Rowel
Philander Rowel
Roger Rowel
Job Rowley
John Rowley
Silas Rowley
David Rowland
Sherman Rowland
Daniel Royce
Samuel Royce
Lieut. Cornelius Russell
Cornet Russell
John Russell
St. John
Joseph Seymour
Ens. John Seymour
William Seymour
Remembrance Sheldon
Dr. Elisha N. Sill
Isaac Skinner
Abner Sled
Elijah Smith
John Smith, 4th
Lieut. Seth Smith
Timothy Soper
Ambrose Sperry
Nathaniel Stanley
Stannard
Robert Starks
Ashbel Stiles
Elijah Stoughton
Ens. Samuel Stoughton
Samuel Taylor
John Taylor
Stephen Taylor
William Taylor
Elijah Thompson
David Thrall
GOVERNMENT
75
Ezekiel Thrall
Isaac Thrall
Jesse Thrall
Giles Thrall
Luke Thrall
William Thrall
Peter Tomina
Timothy Troy
TTaomas Vandusen
Patteshall Wakefield
Abraham Wallace
Joseph Wallace
Jesse Wall
Aibner Ward
Isaac Wardwell
Elbenezer Wardwell
George Warner
Israel Warner
Loomis Warner
Micah Webster
Aaron Webster
Timothy Webster
Corp. Zephaniah Webster
Elbenezer Welch
Lemuel Welch
Gershom West
Joseiph Westland
Amos Westland, Jr.
Robert Westland
Hezekiah Wheeler
John Wheeler
John Whiting
Abiel Wilson
Calvin Wilson
James Wilson
Joel Wilson, Jr.
Moses Wilson
Samuel Wilson
John Wilson
John Winchell
Joseph Winchell
Oliver Winchell
Joseph Wing
Moses Wing
Roger Wing
Sgt. Samuel Wing-
Solomon Wood
Oliver Woodward
Samuel Woodruff
Elbenezer Woolworth
Christopher Wolcott
George Wolcott
Corp. Abel Wright
Ebenezer Young
Two men of the Revolutionary period, Judge Oliver Ells-
worth and Sergeant Daniel Bissell, deserve especial mention.
Their sketches will be found under Persons of Note.
Windsor Sea Trade
Within two years after the treaty of peace that followed
the Revolutionary War, the following memorial was addressed
"To the Honourable General Assembly to be Holden at Hart-
ford on the Second Thursday of May 1785 —
The Memorial of us the Subscribers Inhabitants of the
first Society in East Windsor Propriators & Owners of Land,
on the Bank of Connecticut River About Two Miles in Length
Humbly Showeth —
That the Navigation of Said River is of Great Import-
ance to this State as thereby a Large and Benefical Trade is
Carryed on by Sea, and into the Large and Extensive Country
Northward the Profits of Which Principally Center in this
State— That the Navigation of said River is Greatly Impeaded
and Obstructed by reason of Barr^ and Shoals in it Occationed
by the Sand^ Washing into the Brooks from the Adjoyning
76 OLD WINDSOR
Road^ and by the Water® of said Brooks Carried into the Bed
of the River and Albstruct and Choak the Same Which
Occasions the Waters of Said River to wear away the Bank®
of the River Which Consists of a fine Loomy Earth and the
River thereby Increases in Wedth, and Decreases in Debth
So that in Summer Seasons it is with Great Dificulty that
even Rafts of Lumber and Loaded Boats Pass by Said Town
and your Memorihst^ Being fully Convinced that Said Barr^
and Shoals May be Removed by Confining the River to Nar-
rourer Limits and that the Accretion to the Adjoining Land^
and their increased value would Repay the Expence to the
Propriator of Said Land^ and Are Willing and Desirous to Make
an Attempt of this Kind Provided the Design Should Meat
with your Honour® Patronage and your Honour® will Compell
the Propriator® of the Adjoyning Land® from the North Side
of Benjamin Wolcott® Lott to the North Bound® of Said Society
or So Many of them as a Commitee of Disinterested & Ju-
dicious Men Shall Judg to be their Just and Reasonable Part
of the Expence — ^Whereupon we the Subscribers Humbly
Pray that your Honour® would Appoint a Judicious and Dis-
interested Committee and Impower them at the Expence of
the Propriator® of the Lands Adjoyning to Said River
Within the Aforesaid Bound® to Errect Such and So Many
Wares & Obstruction® in Said River Within Said Limits as they
shall Judg Nessary and Convenient with Power to Tax the
Proprietors of Said Adjoyning Land® or so many of them and
In Such Proportion as Said Committe Judg Just and Reason-
able to Defray the Expence therof with Power to Appoint
Collector® to Gather Said Taxes."
Signed by Erastus Wolcott Aaron Bissell
Amasa Loomis Elisha Bissell
Eli Moore
The foregoing request was granted in the following resolution :
"Resolved by this Assembly that Joel Loomis, Samuel
Treet & Fradrick Elsworth of East Windsor —
Be a Committe and they Are Hereby Appointed a Com-
mitte with full Power and Authority from Time to Time at
the Expence of the Propritors and Owner® of the Land® on the
GOVERNMENT 77
Bank of the Connecticut River and Adjoyning Island Betwixt
the North Bound of the first Society in East Windsor and
the North Bound^ of the Home Lott of Benjamin Wolcott to
Erect Such and So many Wharves & Obstructions in Said
River Within Said Bound^ as they Judg Nessary for the Pur-
pos Aforesaid and to Defray the Expence thereof Said Com-
mitte are Hereby Authorised & Impowered from Time to Time
to Assess and Tax the Owners of Said Adjoyning Land or So
Many of them and Such Proportion as they Judg Just and
Reasonable Haveing Regard to the Benifit received or to be
Received — and to Appoint a Collector or Collectors to Collect
Said Taxes Which Collectors shall Have a Warrant Signed by
Some Assistant or Justice of Peac^ (not Interested) Impow-
ering and Directing Said Collector to Collect Said Taxes and
Pay the Same to Said Committee or their Successors for the
Use and Purpose Aforesaid — "
Building a Ship
An illustration of the way in which ship building was
carried on a hundred fifty years ago is found in the following
contract preserved among the historical records in the
possession of Mrs. Carrie Marshall Kendrick :
"Whereas w^e the Subscribers, Thomas Griswold, Abiel
Brown, Pliny Hilyer, & Phinehas Griswold, have mutually
agreed and Concluded to Build, Rig, equip & Load fit for Sea
a Schooner or Sloop of about eighty Tons Burthen on the Bank
of Windsor Ferry River in the Parish of Poquonock in Windsor
in equal shares, viz. each of us one fourth part thereof with-
out it should so happen that any of us have at any time a mind
to sell himself out of said Vessel he shall have liberty so to do,
he first giving the rest of the owners of said Vessel the offer
of purchasing his part thereof on the same terms that he can
sell for to any other person, who may, if they or any of them
please, purchase his part in said Vessel
To the above Articles of agreement we now Mutually
agree & set to our hands and seals this 11* day of September
Anno Domini 1784.
78 OLD WINDSOR
Signed sealed
& delivered Thomas Griswold [Seal]
in presence of Abial Brown [Seal]
Calvin Wilson Pliny Hillyer [Seal]
Joab Griswold Phin^ Griswold [Seal]
These documents prepare us for understanding the fol-
lowing statements that have been handed down to us from the
days of the Revolution :
Prior to and during the Revolution the Palisado Green
was the commercial centre of the town. Here was the great
firm of Hooker and Chaffee, known thru the length and
breadth of the country for its extensive dealings and its high
mercantile honor. It is said that they had a house south of
the old parsonage where they made barrel staves, sent them
to the West Indies, where they were made into barrels or
hogsheads and sent back filled with West India rum and
molasses.
The Hooker and Chafl:ee houses are still standing on the
east side of Palisado Green. North of the Hooker house and
somewhat back stood the old store and packing house. From
every portion of the country there were constantly pouring in
large supplies of horses, beef, cattle, wheat, and produce of
every sort. An eye-witness testifies that one could sometimes
count thirty teams in the road waiting their turn. The mer-
chants sometimes retailed a hogshead of molasses in a single
day.
There being no bridge in Hartford at that time to ob-
struct the navigation of the river, Windsor was a port of entry
and West India and other foreign goods were during a part of
the year landed at the Rivulet ferry. Sometimes six or seven
coasting vessels lay under the bank of the Little River, and
generally some larger English or West India vessels. Their
Trade to Liverpool and the West Indies was then quite ex-
tensive, and the Green was lively with hearty sea captains and
jolly sailors. Several of these captains resided here. Among
them was Capt. Nathaniel Howard, who always brought home
from his visits to foreign ports a little stock of fine silks and
choice goods, which his wife sold from her store in the house
now owned by the Windsor Historical Society.
GOVERNMENT
One hundred years ago whaling vessels were employed
between whaling voyages or in connection with them for
transporting merchandise. They regularly came up the Farm-
ington River and took on cargoes of brick for various ports of
the world. Often while on the northern ocean the crew of one of
these vessels would sight a whale and pursue it. If the whale
were captured it would become necessary to throw overboard
some of the bricks in order to make room for the more val-
uable cargo of whale oil. This led to the saying among the
brick-makers that the floor of the Arctic Ocean was paved with
Windsor bricks.
Residents of Poquonock who can remember as far back
as 1875 or 1880 report that coal was then brought on barges
for the use of the Paper Mill at Poquonock and delivered at
a wharf near Elm Grove, and in the spring time fertilizer was
often carried on barges nearly to the lower Tunxis dam at
Poquonock.
A REPRODUCTION OF THE MARY AND JOHN
The ship that brought the Rev. John Warham and his congreg-ation
from Plymouth, England, to New England in 1630. This photograph was
taken on the Farmington River during the Tercentenary Celebration of
the First Church in 1930.
ao OLD WINDSOR
The Constitution of 1818
With the winning of the War of the Revolution Connecti-
cut became a free and sovereign state, but the citizens of the
generation that had broken the shackles of their bondage to
an English king had failed to free themselves from the unjust
social, religious, and political domination of the Established
Order of their time. Before the Revolution, the Established
Order, which was another name for the Congregational
Church's affiliation with the civil government, made that
church in effect the state church. In the early days nothing
else could reasonably have been expected, for the first settle-
ments were made up largely of members of the Congregational
Churches, who came together and settled together. Windsor's
first settlement from Plymouth was not an organized church,
but the great migration that came later from Dorchester in-
cluded a pastor and his congregation, who established their
home in Windsor with a complete church organization.
The same was true of Hartford and of Wethersfield. In
New Haven and elsewhere the early settlers were Congrega-
tionalists and Connecticut became a Congregational state. To
support the Congregational ministry the people were taxed
and legislation was framed and executed in accordance with
Congregational belief and practice. Political preferment and
social prestige were dominated by the clergy and the church
officials. After a time other sects were scattered here and
there thruout the state and they claimed the right to equal
recognition in social position and in the honors and emoluments
of public office, but at first with little success. However, in
1770, an act of toleration was passed and it was provided that
"No persons in this colony professing the Christain Protestant
religion, who soberly and conscientiously dissent from the
worship and ministry established or approved by the laws of
this colony, and attend public worship by themselves, shali
incur any of the penalties . . . for not attending the
worship and ministry so established on the Lord's day, or
on account of their meeting together by themselves on said
day for the worship of God in a way agreeable to their con-
sciences."
}OVE'RNMiE,NT 81
When the Constitution of the United States was sub-
mitted to the people of Connecticut for rejection or approval,
it was approved in the convention called for that purpose by a
vote of 128 to 40. In the years immediately following Con-
necticut became a stronghold of the Federalist political faith.
For the next quarter of a century the Established Order rested
on the double support of the Congregational Church and the
Federalist Party. Episcopalians, Baptists, Methodists, and
some other dissenters loudly protested because of the discrimi-
nations that were made against them.
To escape paying taxes for the support of the Congrega-
tional Church it was necessary for citizens to file with the clerk
of that church a certificate and prove membership in some
other church. The following are typical of the period prior to
1818.
Windsor, Dec. 5th, 1817
I now certify according as the law requesteth that I belong
to the Baptist Society in W^indsor. Hez^ H. Palmer
Windsor, Dec^r 4th, 1817
I would certify as the Law directs that I belong to the
Methodist Society in Windsor. Dyer Harris.
These dissenters called for the adoption of a written con-
stitution that should guarantee their rights. The state was
still living under the type of government made possible by the
charter of 1662. Some liberal Federalists espoused the cause
of those who called for a constitution. The battle waxed
hotter and hotter. The dissenters demanded that ''legal re-
ligion" be abolished and that the "union of church and state
be forever dissolved" and clerical domination ended. The
adherents of the Established Order characterized their oppon-
ents as atheists, infidels, Sabbath-breakers, rum-sellers, revo-
lutionists, demagogues. Democrats, and ruft'-scuff generally.
Into this struggle plunged a native son of Ancient Wind-
sor. His name was John M. Niles. He became the leader of
the reform movement and demanded an extension of the right
of sutirage and the abolition of the special privileges enjoyed
by the Congregational Church.
82 OLD WINDSOR
To promote his views and those of the reform party he
established the Hartford Times in January, 1817. For several
years the reform party had been gaining strength. The power
and influence of John M. Niles and his newspaper, of which he
now became the editor, were sufficient to turn the tide and
carry the dissenters to final victory in 1818. Windsor's share
in this "revolution" is indicated by the following votes passed
in town meeting on January 19 of that year.
Voted that the people of the state of Connecticut ought
to have a written constitution ; that it is expedient to form a
written constitution of civil government and that the General
Assembly at their session in May are hereby requested to adopt
such measures as they may deem proper to effect this object;
and that the representatives from this town to the next Gen-
eral Assembly are requested to present an attested copy of
these votes to the Assembly.
A constitutional convention was called to meet in Hartford
on August 20, 1818, to draft a constitution. Eliakim Marshall
and Josiah Phelps were sent as delegates from Windsor. The
convention finished its work on September 15 and the draft of
the proposed constitution was read for the approval or rejec-
tion of the delegates. Both delegates from Windsor voted
their approval. A majority of the entire convention also ap-
proved by a vote of 134 to 61 and the document was sent to all
the towns in the state for their ratification or rejection. The
decision was made on October 5 following.
The vote in Windsor was recorded as 149 yeas and 141
nays. In the state the vote stood 13,918 yeas and 12,364 nays.
By a majority of 1554 the new constitution was declared
adopted. Much of the new document was a reaffirmation of the
guiding pr'ncipies laid down in the charter of 1662, but the
separation of church and state, for which the reformers had
fought so long and so vigorously, was made effective in the
first six sections, which read as follows:
We Declare
Sec. 1. That all men when they form a social compact
are equal in rights ; and that no man or set of men are entitled
GOVERNMENT 83
to exclusive public-^^moluments or privileges from the com-
munity.
Sec. 2. That all political power is inherent in the people,
and all free governments are founded on their authority, and
instituted for their benefit, and that they have at all times
an undeniable and indefeasable right to alter their form of
government in such manner as they may think expedient.
Sec. 3. The exercise and enjoyment of religious pro^-
fession and worship, without discrimination, shall forever be
free to all persons in this State ; provided that the right here-
by declared and established shall not be so construed as to
excuse acts of licentiousness or to justify practices inconsistent
with the peace and safety of the state.
Sec. 4. No preference shall be given by law to any
Christian sect or mode of worship.
Sec. 5. Every citizen may freely speak, write, and pub-
lish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the
abuse of that liberty.
Sec. 6. No law shall ever be passed to curtail or restrain
the liberty of speech, or of the press.
The War of 1812
During the decade in which the citizens of Connecticut
had carried on a successful revolution to secure a state consti-
tution, which should guarantee their civil and religious rights,
the nation was called upon to wage another war in defense of
what was popularly called 'Tree Trade and Sailors' Rights."
It was claimed that England deprived United States citizens
of their rights upon the high seas and refused to carry out
some of the promises she had made at the close of the Revo-
lution,
For this war Windsor was called upon to furnish her share
of the country's defenders. Particular campaigns and inci-
dents in which these men participated are little known, but
the following list of Windsor names found on the muster rolls
of the army shows that the town was not lacking in loyalty.
84
OLD WINDSOR
Grove Ellsworth
Jasper Morgan, Sr.
Roswell Denslow
Ethan Barker, Jr.
Guy Talcott
Reuben Cook
Martin Ellsworth
William Mack
Philip Halsey
James R. Halsey
Timothy Wilson
Aichsah Birge
Capt. C. Porter
Roswell Cook
Job Holden
Harvey Stoughton
Warren Barber
Henry Clark
Dryden Holcomb
Col. Chester Soper
Cyrus Griswold
Fredus Griswold
Fredus Case
William Alford
Abiel B. Griswold
Guy Griswold
Samuel Hatheway, Jr.
Samuel Hatheway, Sr.
Jehiel House
Cyrus Howe
Warham Griswold
Eliphalet G. Allyn
Zophar Case
Philip Barnes
William Blanchard
Allen Burr
Ethan Merrill
Zardus Case
Josiah Phelps
Harlow Case
David Holcomb
The Mexican War
The Mexican War of 1846-1848, regarded by anti-slavery
leaders as a war for the expansion of territory and the exten-
sion of slavery, naturally evoked little enthusiasm among
the descendants of men who had come to Windsor in search of
freedom. We have no detailed record of the services of the
few men who enlisted from Windsor. In the cemetery records
we find the name of one man who was a soldier in Mexico.
It is the name of Christopher W. Halsey, whose service bears
testimony to his belief in the justice of his country's cause.
The names of Edward Chapman, Timothy Filler and Charles
W. Scott are also recorded in the Adjutant-General's office
as serving from Windsor.
The Civil War
When we come to the Civil War, what a different story
the old town was prepared to tell! Enthusiasm for the cause
of human freedom brought young men rushing to defend the
Union. The list of those who went to the front is long and
honorable. The following names recorded in Stiles' Ancient
Windsor comprise as complete a roster as we have been able
to find of those who risked their lives that the nation might
live.
GOVERNMENT
85
The list of soldiers furnished to the U. S. service in the
Civil War from the town of Windsor, Conn.
Adams, Solomon H.
Allen, Giles D.
Allyn, Chauncey M.
Allyn, Henry W.
Austin, Frank
Archer, Charles B.
Bailey, Garret T.
Baldwin, William H.
Barber, Edward L.
Barnes, George W-
Barthwick, Walter
Baugh, Eugene
Bramiger, John
Brandt, Henry S.
Brown, William E.
Buck, D. Winthrop
Buck, F. Clarence
Bumstead, John W.
Burke, Richard J.
Burns, John, Jr.
Carney, John B.
Case, Edward
Cassidy, Hugh
Chase, William
Clark, Ansil B.
Clarke, Sanford
Clarke, Warren G.
Clark, Grove
Clay, Hugh
Clinton, Henry
Conroy, James
Cook, Edward W.
Cooper, Erwin L.
Cooper, George A.
Oorbin, William
Cumming, William
Daniels, Charles
Daniels, Horace
Day, Orson
Delaney, William
Dorman, Elliot L.
Down, James W.
Drake, William H.
Dutting, Henry
Ellsworth, Eli P.
Ensign, Robert E.
Everest, William C.
F'amell, James
Feney, William F.
Fenton, George A.
Fenton, John M.
Finn, John
Florange, Michael
Florange, Peter
Foot, George W.
Fox, Hiram S.
French, Allen D.
Gette, William
Gladding, Adney B.
Goswell, Philip
Graham, William E.
Green, Edmund B.
Griswold, Edwin J.
Griswold, Everett
Griswold, Norris
Hale, Charles O.
Halsey, Henry A.
Hamlin, Noah C.
Harper, George
Harris, William
Harvey, Horace L.
Harvey, James H.
Hayden, Levi
Hodge, James L.
Holcomb, Mortimer
iHolcomb, Pliny A.
Hollister, Edward H.
Holders, Charles H.
Holt, Moses P.
House, James H.
House, William A.
Hosmer, Albert
Howard, William E.
Johnson, Barney L.
Jones, Joseph J.
Jones, Franklin
Kapser, William
Keeney, Buell
Kirk, Edgar A.
Kirk, Henry E.
Kirk, Roderic
Lawrence, James
Linnen, John
Londergan, James R.
Loomis, Edward W.
Loomis, G. Gilbert
Loomis, Simeon
Loomis, James L.
Lynch, James
Lynch, John
Mack, Henry C.
Marble, Amos M.
Mason, James
McCall, Jabez B.
McNally, Patrick
Miller, Francis D
Miller, Moses M.
Miller, Richard
86
OLD WINDSOR
Mills, Alfred W.
Moffatt, Russell A.
Monroe, William
Mooney, John
Montgomery, Lewis 0.
Morgan, Jasper, Jr.
Morrison, Sylvester P.
Murphy, Cornelius
Murphy, Timothy
O'Keefe, Fred I.
Palmer, Osbert H.
Parsons, Henry N.
Peck, Edward I.
Pedro, John
Perkins, William M.
Pettengell, Stephen B.
Phelps, Elizur D.
Phelps, Ellsworth N.
Porter, Edward
Potter, Gilbert W.
Prince, Amasa P.
Radcliff, Charles G.
Raymond, John W.
Recor, George D.
Reed, William
Reynolds. Walter
Rockwood, Newell P.
Rodgers, Harvey G.
Rodgers, William F.
Rook, William
Rowland, George C.
Sarsfield, John
Scales, Samuel J.
Semple, John W.
Sergeant, Albert
Severance, Melvin A.
Sharp, William
Shelton, George T.
Shanz, Baltas
Shinners, James
Smith, Benajah E.
Smith, Charles
Smith, George 0.
Smith, John
Smith, Joseph M.
Smith, Peter
Snyder, Philip
Soper, Edward B.
Soper, Henry L.
Soper, William A.
Sothergill, Robert
Steamer, John
Stirmmer, Charles
Strickland, Sidney E.
Sullivan, James
Swan, George P.
Thain, Charles H.
Tennant, Charles J.
Thirlkell, Thomas
Thrall, Edward F.
Trumbull, George H.
Turhune, John
Vibert, George
Vurnan, Edward
Warner, Francis R.
Warriner, William D.
Welch, Martin
Wells, Frank
Wilson, William
The Spanish American War
During the presidency of William McKinley our country
became involved in another war, which fortunately proved to
be of short duration. This time it was a conflict with Spain
growing out of an insurrection in Cuba, which called forth
the sympathy of Americans because of the terrible sufferings
of the Cubans, involved financial interests in the United
States, and led to the sending of the United States battleship
Maine to the city of Havana, where she was destroyed by an
explosion, which may have been accidental, but which was
generally believed to have been caused by some one in sym-
pathy with the Spanish in their attempt to subdue the Cubans.
On April 11, 1898, President McKinley asked Congress
for authority to use the military and naval forces of the United
GOVERNMENT 87
States to bring an end to hostilities between Spain and Cuba
and to secure the establishment of a stable g-overnment for
Cuba. This meant war. The excitement was great. Military
preparation and action were hurried. The war was fought
in Cuba, Porto Rico, and in the Philippines and everywhere
the army and navy of the United States were success>ful. By
fall the war was over, except for native insurrections in the
Philippines. So brief and one sided a war did not call for
large enlistments, but Windsor men were prompt to provide
their share of soldiers and sailors who served in the various
campaigns.
The following list may not be complete, because some
men considered to be Windsor men were listed in the army
records as belonging to other places, where they happened
to be at the time of their enlistment. However, it is as nearly
complete as we have been able to make it.
Frank Elisha Fuller Lewis J. Bennett Joseph Wylie
Harry Bell Case William C. Murphy Ralph H. Embler
Walter S. Hastings John W. Murphy Merlin A. Pierce
William Harry Abbott James J. Cosgrove Frank L. Young
Timothy Sullivan
Wilbur L. Gillette, killed in the Philippines.
Walter C. Webb, died in the Philippines.
Philip Remington was promoted to the rank of colonel
and rendered distinguished service in the Philippines.
The Windsor Veteran Battalion
In 1866, one year after the close of the Civil War, the
Grand Army of the Republic was organized at Decatur, Illinois.
It was composed of honorably discharged soldiers and sailors
who had served in the Union Army. Its chief purpose was
maintaining the fraternal bonds which the war had created
and which then united those who had fought in a common
cause ; to perpetuate the memory and preserve the history of
those who had died ; and to give assistance to the needy and
their widows and orphans. One of its special activities was to
aid in the establishment of the national observance of Memorial
Day.
88
OLD WINDSOR
While local posts were established in almost every im-
portant town in the North and West, Windsor never had an
organization under the usual name. Instead of forming a post
the local veterans organized about fifteen years after the close
of the war under the name of the Windsor Veteran Battalion
of the Grand Army of the Republic.
In 1881 the town voted that the selectmen be instructed
to give an order on the town treasurer for the payment of Fifty
Dollars to the treasurer of the. Windsor Veteran Battalion to
pay the expenses of Decoration Day. The appropriation for
this purpose has now become a regular item in the town's
financial budget and the amount has been raised to Two Hun-
dred Dollars.
By 1920 the diminishing ranks of the aged veterans gave
sad but unmistakable evidence that the time had come for
younger men to take up the burden that the old soldiers had
borne.
On April 19 of that year the work was taken over by the
Sons of Veterans and the Battalion was reorganized with Fred.
W. Morgan as Commander ; Adelbert DuBon, Vice-Commander,
and William S. Leek, Secretary and Treasurer. The name of
the organization remained unchanged.
The following is the list of officers to date :
Secretary
Commanders Vice-Commanders and Treasurer
1921. Adelbert Dubon
1922. W. S. Hastings
1923. Arthur G. Barnes
1924. Charles T. Lewis
1925. Walter L. Wolf
1926. Stanley C. Foot
1927. Philip Wolf
1928. Thos. J. Mullen
1929. William S. Leek
1930. George A. Jones
1931. John M. Cook
1932. M. L. J. Higgins
1933. M. L. J. Higgins
1934. Godfrey Baker
1935. W. S. Hastings
Walter S. Hastings
Arthur G. Barnes
Charles T. Lewis
Walter L. Wolf
Stanley C. Foot
Philip Wolf
Thomas J. Mullen
William S. Leek
Godfrey Baker
John M. Cook
M. L. J. Higgins
Adelbert DuBon
Adelbert DuBon
H. W. Ellingwood
William S. Leek
William S. Leek
Charles T. Lewis
(The names abbreviated above are, when wi-itten in full: Walter S.
Hastings, Harold W. Ellingwood, Mortimer L. J. Higgins. grandson of
Mortmier L. Johnson a Rear'-Admiral in the Civil War).
GOVERNMENT 89
The usual Memorial Day program includes an address
in one of the town hails together with patriotic songs, music
and the recitation of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address by some
pupil from the public schools, but the chief feature is the
decoration of the soldiers' graves by the children, who march
to the cemeteries in procession led by the Sons of Veterans,
the American Legion, the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts, and
allied groups and organizations accompanied by the Windsor
Band.
The Daughters of the American Revolution
The Abigail Wollcott Ellsworth Chapter of the Daughters
of the American Revolution is outstanding among the chap-
ters of Connecticut for its patriotic work and educational
activities. It was named in honor of the wife of Chief Justice
Oliver Ellsworth and organized December 8, 1894.
Its Regents have been:
]\Irs. Newton S. Bell, December 8, 1894, to December 5, 1896
Mrs. Lucien B. Loomis, December 5, 1896, to June 15, 1903 .
Miss Jennie Loomis, June 15, 1903, to May 18, 1926
Miss Mary C. Welch, May 18, 1926, to May 15, 1930
Mrs. Eleazer Pomeroy, May 15, 1930, to October 17, 1933
Mrs. Clayton P. Chamberlin, October 17, 1933 —
The present officers (May 1, 1935) are:
Regent, Mrs. Clayton P. Chamberlin.
Vice-Regents, Mrs. S. Royce Braman and Mrs Philip
F. Ellsworth.
Chaplain, Miss Jennie Loomis.
Secretary, Miss May L. Dickson.
Treasurer, Mrs. Alfred W. Olds.
Registrar, Miss Alice E. Morgan.
Historian, Mrs. Reuben D. Warner.
Librarian, Miss Kate P. Safford.
In 1898 the chapter was responsible for the placing of a
boulder on the 'Tsland" to mark the site of the first English
settlement in Connecticut. Later the chapter placed a bronze
tablet upon the Windsor Center grammar school to commemo-
rate the work of Roger Ludlow, framer of the Fundamental
90 OLD WINDSOR
Orders of Connecticut. Many prizes have been awarded by
the chapter to pupils in the local schools to encourage the
writing- of historical essays and to promote high ideals of
citizenship. Money and material for Americanization and
educational work have been contributed to many individuals
and institutions, particularly to the American International
College at Springfield, Mass., and Maryville College at Mary-
ville, Tenn.
In 1903 the one hundred sixteen heirs of Oliver Ellsworth
presented the Ellsworth Homestead to the Connecticut D. A.
R. for their headquarters and the local chapter is brought into
frequent and intimate association with the state officers and
members of other chapters, who come to Windsor for confer-
ences, pilgrimages, and conventions.
Children of the Ainerica;n Revolution
On December 29, 1931, a new patriotic society was organ-
ized with its membership limited to boys and girls under
twenty-one years of age, who can trace their ancestry to a
Revolutionary soldier or to some one who rendered a patriotic
service in connection vdth the Revolutionary War. The
organization was sponsored by the Abigail Wolcott Ellsworth
Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and took
its name from a Windsor boy of the Revolutionary period,
who was noted for his ardent patriotism and spectacular
denunciation of King George the Third and his treatment of
his subjects in America. It is known as the Elihu Drake
Chapter of the Children of the American Revolution.
The object of the society is declared to be "The acquisition
of knowledge of American history ; to help preserve the places
made sacred by the men and women who forwarded American
Independence; to love, uphold and extend the institutions of
American liberty and patriotism and the principles that made
and saved our country."
The present officers are :
Senior President, Mrs. S. Royce Braman
Junior President, John Benson
GOVERNMENT 91
Vice-President, Edith Mather
Secretary, Mary Ellsworth
Treasurer, Dickinson Morse
Historian, Preston Goslee
Registrar, Barbara Benson
Color Bearer, Jerry Merrill
Sergeant-at-Arms, Jules Lenard
The World War
The year 1917 saw the United States enter the World
War, which had raged in Europe since 1914. War activities
of every kind now controlled the thought and attention of the
entire population until the struggle in Europe was ended in
the closing days of 1918.
The Red Cross was already in the field. As a part of
the national organization in cooperation with the Red Cross
of other nations the women of Windsor had acted as a branch
of the Hartford Chapter and had contributed much in the way
of work and supplies to aid and comfort the sick and wounded
on the battle fields of Europe. Now their efforts were re-
doubled. On March 6, 1917, the Windsor Branch of the
Hartford Chapter elected the Rev. Roscoe Nelson, president,
Mrs. Frederick W. Harriman, vice-president, Mrs. Fredus M.
Case, secretary, and William P. Calder, treasurer. Mrs. Har-
riman, who had from the beginning been head of the group
directing work and activities, was continued in this position
thruout the duration of the war.
A survey of the town was made to learn who had sewing
machines that could be made available for war work. From
every corner of the town women volunteered for servicfe.
All were soon busy knitting socks, sweaters, wristlets, muf-
flers, and helmets, and cutting and making bandages, surgical
dressings, pajamas, supplies for soldiers' kits and a great va-
riety of articles for the soldiers comfort and welfare.
Another group of women led by Miss Louise Campbell,
Mrs. Olivier J. Riley, and Mrs. Carlan H. Goslee, engaged in
canning fruits and vegetables in order to aid in the conserva-
92 OLD WINDSOR
tion of food. The school children were enrolled in the Junior
Red Cross and assisted in making compresses, knitting scarfs,
and doing other war work as a part of the school program.
When war was declared Windsor took steps to organize
a Home Guard in conformity with an act of the legislature
passed to meet the existing emergency. This company known
as the Windsor Company, Battalion C, Connecticut Home
Guard, later renamed Company A, First Separate Battalion
Infantry, First Military District, Connecticut, was organized
and elected officers on April 13, 1917, and was formally mus-
tered into service on the following May 3rd by Captain Roland
F. Andrews.
The headquarters of the company were in the town hall
at Windsor Center. Under the leadership of Captain Henry
A. Grimm the company was soon receiving high commendation
from the state department. Colonel Charles W. Burpee, after
a tour of inspection, reported, "The Windsor Company . . .
in three weeks from the time they got their rifles gave an
almost faultless exhibition of the manual."
During the almost three years of its existence the com-
pany drilled regularly once each week, met with other com-
panies for regimental maneuvers, and did guard duty at home
and in Hartford. After several months Captain Grimm was
made major in the state service and 1st Lieutenant George R.
Reed became captain and was head of the company until it
was mustered out January 15, 1920.
The muster roll of the company as of August 30, 1917, was
as follows:
Date of Enlistment
1. Henry A. Grimm, Captain March 30, 1917
2. George R. Reed, 1st Lieutenant April 9
3. Alexander W. Norrie, 2nd Lieutenant April 13
4. Winthrop R. Nelson, 1st Sergeant March 28
5. Clarence S. Voorhis, Sergeant April 4
6. Harry B. Williams, Sergeant March 28
7. Howard F. King, Sergeant April 5
8. William A. Reeves, Corporal April 4
9. George W. Mastaglio, Corporal April 4
GOVERNMENT
93
10. William P. Mott, Corporal April 13
11. Royal W. Thompson, Corporal April 13
12. George J. Merwin, Corporal April 13
13. Edward J. Kernan, Corporal April 9
14. John J. O'Brien, Corporal April 20
15. William B. Cornish, Corporal March 27
16. George J. Bedortha, Private March 28
17. Stanton F. Brown, Private August 17
18. Herbert Brimmer, Private April, 7
19. Amos Brooks, Private April 7
20. Abraham Bruyn, Private March 29
21. Francis A. Broderiek, Private August 23
22. Volney M,. Burdick, Private April 13
23. Louis D. Bushnell, Private August 17
24. Benjamin S. Carter, Private March 28
25. Fredus M. Case, Private March 30
26. Herbert S. Case, Private April 4
27. Salmon Clark, Private August 23
28. Newton H. Cobb, Private April 20
29. James Colletti, Private April 7
30. John M. Cook, Private March 28
31. Charles C. Cornelius, Private August 23
32. George E. Crosby, Jr.,Private May 4
33. Frank A. Cregle, Private March 29
34. Burton W. Elliott, Private April 3
35. Charles W. Elliott, Private March 29
36. Thomas Garvan, Private March 29
37. Edward J. Gilligan, Private March 28
38. Ingalls WL Godfrey, Private March 24
39. Henry Goodrow, Private March 28
40. Carlan H. Goslee, Private April 13
41. Howard L. Goslee, Private April 4
42. Mason C. Green, Private August 17
43. Adin D. Hatheway, Private April 13
44. Albertus S. Hills, Private April 20
45. Albert H.. House, Private April 4
46. John W. Laverty, Private April 13
47. Albert T. Matthews, Private April 4
48. John Murphy, Private March 26
49. Osmond W. Olmsted, Private April 9
50. Ervine F. Parker, Private April 13
51. Albert Peichert, Private March 28
52. Eleazer Pomeroy, Private Mai'ch 28
53. Henry J. Potter, Private April 27
54. Peter J. Reittinger, Private April 13
94 OLD WINDSOR
55. Oliver J. Riley, Private April 13
56. Charles Sackett, Private March 13
57. Frederic A. Scouten, Private April 4
58. Homer R. Turner, Private April 27
59. Joseph V. Wall, Private April 7
60. William F. Wall, Private April 4
61. Frederick Wilbrfaham, Private April 7,
George H. Willis enlisted March 24, 1918, and Stanley C. Foote
about the same time.
RBSEiRVE-S
Date of Einlistment
1. Strong H. Barber April 4, 1917
2. Benjamin D. Bailey March 23
3. Alfred H. Campbell April 20
4. Daniel Harrison March 28
5. Willard M. Lovell April 13
6. Karl N. Olmsted March 27
7. George F. Scarborough April 13
8. George C. Savage April 5
9. Edson A. Welch March 2'6
10. Frederick H. Young April 13
On November 15, 1917, the first step was taken toward
the formation of a war bureau, wliich should have the general
oversight of all the war activities of the town. Under the
leadership of John E. Luddy of the State Council of Defense
and John B. Stewart, president of the Windsor Chamber of
Commerce, the following men were invited to meet with them
at the City Club in Hartford: Albert H. House, William P.
Calder, Nathaniel Horton Batchelder, Fredus M. Case, Thomas
J. Kearney, Charles E. Stinson, Dr. Clyde A. Clark, the Rev.
Roscoe Nelson, the Rev. William Carr, the Rev. Frederick W.
Harriman, Edward J. Kernan, Alfred W. Olds , George E.
Crosby, Jr., Carlan H. Goslee, George F. Scarborough, Howard
L. Goslee, Mason C. Green, James J. Dillon, John H. Garvan,
James F. Norris, Fred W. Morgan, Julius E, Ransom, and
Daniel Howard.
After listening to addresses on the necessity for action
this group recommended that their chairman, John B. Stewart,
should appoint a committee of seven to arrange for a meeting
of the citizens of Windsor at the Windsor town hall on the
evening of November 23, following.
GOVERNMENT 95
At this meeting Windsor, true to her earliest traditions,
assumed the role of pioneer and formed the first War Bureau
in Connecticut with William P. Calder, treasurer of the Windsor
Trust Company, elected to serve as its permanent chairman
and Nathaniel Horton Batchelder elected as secretary. The
others members of the Bureau were the first selectman, Fredus
M. Case, the Rev. Roscoe Nelson, Miss Agnes G. McCormick,
Mrs. Marion Blake Campbell, John B. Stewart, and Albert H.
House.
During the entire war this Bureau directed the local war
activities, appointed committees to aid in its work, cooperated
with and supported committees and directors appointed by the
State Council for Defense, and helped in every way to carry
out the program of the state and national governments. Before
the work of the Bureau was ended Mr. Calder moved from
Windsor to accept a position in the city of Bristol and Mr.
Batchelder took over the chairmanship and carried on the
work until the end of the war. He also had charge of the sale
of Liberty Bonds and directed the program carried out for the
conservation of food. Mr. Frank V. Mills during a part of
the war period acted as fuel administrator and was charged
with the duty of seeing that fuel was rigorously conserved and
equitably distributed. Daniel Howard was supervisor of gar-
dens cultivated by school pupils for the purpose of increasing
agricultural products for home consumption.
War and war activities absorbed the thought and interest
of the community. Rallies were held to increase the sale of
Liberty Bonds and Thrift Stamps. Committees also canvassed
the town for the same purpose. Thrift Stamps and Baby Bonds
were on sale in many places including the bank and the schools.
George E. Crosby, Jr., was appointed dire):itor of those in
charge of the sale of Thrift Stamps thruout the town. The
Thrift Stamps appealed especially to the children and small
investors, being sold at twenty-five cents each and attached
by the purchaser to Thrift Cards with places for sixteen
stamps, which, when filled, were exchangeable, with the addi-
tion of a few cents, depending upon the date of exchange, for
Baby Bonds with a maturity value of Five Dollars. These in
96 OLD WINDSOR
turn were attached to engraved folders known as "War-
Savings Certificates," each certificate containing twenty places,
and, when filled, redeemable on January 1, 1923, for One Hun-
dred Dollars.
No accurate record of the amount of Windsor's invest-
ment in these certificates and in Liberty Bonds is available,^
but some indication of the support given to this enterprise
may be seen when we examine a few sample "frolics" or
"drives," such as were features of the campaign carried on
thruout the period of the war.
For the first issue of Liberty Bonds Windsor subscribed
S69,000; for the second issue, $123,000; Windsor's quota of
S45,000 for the third loan was soon over subscribed. A Thrift
Stamp frolii2 at the Poquonock town hall held on March 20,
1918, resulted in the sale of over One Thousand Dollars' worth
of stamps and Miss Helen DuBon was elected Thrift Stamp
queen for her special work.
A frolic held in the town hall at Windsor Center on March
27, 1918, brought $3,318.75 from the sale of stamps and Miss
Florence Grimshaw was crowned queen of the evening. The
Delta Alpha Club ccm.posed of young ladies of the community
sold stamps amounting to $6,235 before the frolic. A report
to the State Council of Defense made seven months later in
October shewed that Windsor's per capita sales of stamps was
$7.19. During the fall term the pupils in the public schools
purchased stamps to the amount of $2,910.25. On May 20,
1918, the Red Cross subscriptions for war work totaled $10,441.
Later subscriptions and the final sale of Victory Bonds are not
included.
War posters everywhere exhorted everyone to economize,
save food and fuel, and lend to their government. Plays,
pageants, and poems were written for the rallies, bees, and
frolics. Speakers, singers, motion pictures, prizes, music and
printed propaganda kept everybody at a high pitch of excite-
ment and enthusiasm. The following limericks are samples
from the program of a Thrift Stamp Bee held in the Windsor
town hall on the evening of January 16, 1918.
GOVERNMENT 97
World War Limericks
Buy, buy a Baby Bond.
Brother's gone to war, far, far beyond the sea.
I mjist work and save for him.
I must help at home.
Till victory brings him back to me.
Little drops of water, little grains of sand
Make the mighty ocean and the pleasant land.
Little bits of Thrift Stamps, just a quarter each,
Make a good beginning a Baby Bond to reach.
Let us then be up and doing,
Spending quarters left and right.
We're not slackers, let us prove it
Buying Thrift Stamps here tonight.
Hey Diddle-Diddle, the Kaiser won't fiddle
When he hears of our Thrift Stamp boom ;
Our soldiers will laugh ;
'Twill break them in half
And the Huns will be covered with gloom.
Come, little Thrift Stamp, live with me ;
You'll take the place of sugar and tea ;
You will be meat and wheat and tea ;
Come, little Thrift Stamp, live with me.
Such was the character of the war efforts made to main-
tain morale at home and to give support to the sons and broth-
ers "over there," nor was there any relaxation of these efforts
until the news came that the fighting was at an end and the
armistice had been proclaimed. In the early morning of No-
vember 11, 1918, the news spread over the town that the long
awaited day had come. Men abandoned their work, the chil-
dren did not go to school, and all both old and young spent the
day in joyous celebration.
98 OLD WINDSOR
The Welcome Home
Now the question was on every lip, When will the boys
come home ? A. whole long year had to pass before the last of
them returned. Then the citizens of the town united to give
them a rousing welcome. Money was appropriated for a dinner
and a celebration. Ccmmittees were appointed and the follow-
ing invitation was sent to every Windsor soldier :
To Those Who Went From Windsor Into the Nation's Service
in the World War : —
The entire town of Windsor welcomes you home from your
sacrilice and service in your country's cause. All her citizens
greet you with open arms. You offered everything for them
in their hour of need and now they offer you their tribute of
unstinted praise and their boundless gratitude. They desire
the honor of participating in a public demonstration in recog-
nition of the magnitude and worth of your achievements and
the extent and permanency of their own debt of obligation.
To carry out their purpose an appropriate program has
' been planned for Saturday, November fifteenth, nineteen hun-
dred nineteen.
You are most cordially invited to be present in uniform
and to occupy the place of honor in the parade that is to be
a prominent feature of the celebration. The local Red Cross
organization will find it a pleasure and deem it an honor to have
3"0u as their guests at the table which they will spread for your
refreshment. A special committee will provide for your fur-
ther entertainment. Numerous town organizations will par-
ticipate with you in the parade and all Windsor will be your
host for the day.
The place of assembl'ng for the parade will be on the green
at Windsor Center, and the hour will be one thirty P. M.
A more detailed program will be announced before the
day of the celebration. A reply is requested on the enclosed
card.
GEORGE R. REED,
DANIEL HOWARD,
AGNES G. McCORMICK,
Invitation Committee.
Windsor, Connecticut, November 8, 1919.
GOVERNMENT 99
The day of the celebration was one never to be forgotten
by those who were present to witness the parade at Windsor
Center and the program that followed ending in a banquet at
the Windsor Casino with addresses by invited guests and songs
and stories by the soldiers themselves.
Then bajck they went to their homes and their friends,
back again to civil life, back to the varied vocations and duties
of peace.
Ten days before this celebration a group of these ex-
service men had signed an application for a charter to form
a post of the American Legion at Windsor. In the Windsor
town hall on November 11, 1919, Gray-Dickinson Post No. 59
was organized with fifty-eight ex-service men in attendance.
The name of the Post Was taken in honor of two comrades
both of whom had lost their lives in France. Howard B. Gray
had enlisted November 20, 1916, and served in Company K
First Infantry Connecti(cut National Guard. He was sent to
Mexico. Later his company became a part of the 102nd In-
fantry serving in France. He was wounded at Chateau Thierry
and died of his wounds July 21, 1918. Seth H. Dickinson also
went to Mexico before being sent to France. He was a mem-
ber of Headquarters Company in the 102nd Infantry and had
been twice promoted for merit in the early months of 1918.
He served at Seicheprey, Chateau-Thierry, and San Mihiel
and was killed in action September 26, 1918, during the Marne-
on-Argonne drive.
At the first meeting of the Post William M. Evans was
elected Commander ; Charles D. Perry, Vice-Commander ; Ray-
mond D. Hayes, Adjutant ; Robert C. Gray, Treasurer.
The Post has been one of the most active in the state both
in looking after the welfare of the World War veterans and in
civic enterprises. It now has a membership of 179. In 1926
it bought the house at No. 20 Maple Avenue, which has been
made into a permanent home and headquarters. The house
contains an assembly room seating about one hundred persons,
an oflice, a club room, a kitchen, headquarters for the town's
visiting nurse furnished to the community without charge for
rent, and a four port fifty foot rifle range in the basement.
100 OLD WINDSOR
The Post sponsors three regular troops of Boy Scouts, the
Seth Harding troop of Sea Scouts, and the Wilson Pack of
Cub Scouts.
The present officers (1935) are:
Commander, George N. Greene; 1st Vice-Commander,
Merrill E. Bill; 2nd Vice-Commander, Ralph Peters; Adjutant,
Mortimer L. J. Higgins; Treasurer, Harmon T. Barber; Ser-
geant-at-Arms, Albert Rossing; Chaplain, Charles E. Schaefer;
Historian, Harold W. Ellingwood.
The revival of the Purple Heart Badge of Merit, which
was described in our sketch of Daniel Bissell, disclosed many-
deeds of outstanding heroism performed by men of this Post
in the V/orld War. The following are names of those who have
received the Badge of Merit because of wounds received in
heroic action. Those who received the Badge of the Purple
Heart with the Oak Leaf Cluster, were wounded or gassed in
more than one battle : Charles D. Perry, Robert A. Neher, Wil-
liam M. Evans, Walter M. Wilkialis, Dominick Parlapiano,
Arthur J. Evans, Merrill E. Bill, Joseph F. Bushnell (with the
Oak Leaf Cluster) , John A. Benson, George H. Berlin, Charles
E. Stack, William C. Speakman, Philip Mucha, Charles Bar-
anowsky (with the Oak Leaf Cluster) , Joseph Mangene, Glover
Campbell, Philip Letzuk (with the Oak Leaf Cluster) .
The Post is also justly proud of the many citations re-
ceived for the eminent character of its activities as an organi-
zation. The Earle F. Richards Cup, which is awarded annually
to that Post which gives the largest service and help to Con-
necticut's hospitalized veterans, was won by Windsor No. 59 in
1930, 1932, 1933, and 1934. The Paige A. Sexton Cup, awarded
each year to that Post of the Department of Connecticut that
leads in the Boy Scout program, was also won by this same
Windsor Post in 1933 and again in 1934. Many other citations
for meritorious service are highly prized and preserved among
the Post's records.
On July 5, 1920, a bronze tablet carrying the names of the
243 men who went into the World War from Windsor was
unveiled at Windsor Center, This tablet was procured with
the proceeds of subscriptions made by citizens of the town. It
GOVERNMENT
101
was intended that it should be placed on a fitting pedestal or
boulder, but as the funds proved inadequate at that time it
was placed temporarily on the south wall of the town hall,
where it still remains awaiting the day when the means shall
be made available to give it a permanent and fitting setting.
It reads:
1917 ERECTED BY THE CITIZENS OF WINDSOR 1919
CONNECTICUT IN HONOR OF THOSE WHO WENT
FROM THIS TOWNSHIP TO FIGHT IN THE WORLD
WAR FOR HUMANITY AND JUSTICE.
Arthur W. Abbott
George H. Adanis
Joseph Adonitis
Alice V. Alford
Stanley Austin
Arthur R. Babcock
C. Raymond Babcock
F^-ank D. Babcock
Henry P. Babcock
Charles D. Baldwin
Clifford V. Barber
Kenneth W. Barber
Raymond W. Barber
William J. Barber
Walter F. Barcomb
Howard W. Barrs
Albert W. Becker
Carl J. Becker
William A. Becker
Arthur M. Beebe
Wilfred J. Bennett
Harold P. Bill
Merrill E. Bill
Roswell H. Bill
M:ichael Binkoski
Alfred P. Bond
Raymond A. Bond
Anthony Bontanas
Joseph Brazdekis
Prank Brewer
Herlbert S. Brimer
Francis A. Broderick
Amos Brooks
Hub bell F. Brown
George DeW. Burnham
John W. Bushnell
Joseph H. Bushnell
Louis D. Bushnell
John J. Butler
Thomas C. Butler
Annie M. Callender
Charles J. Carroll
William A. Carroll
James W. Case
Nelson J. Caye
Percy E. Gaye
John F. Chivinsky
Harold J. Christensen
Raymond B. Clark
Ernest S. Clarke, Jr.
Herbert E. Clay
James Colletti
Charles A. Connolly
Kenneth B. Cowan
Thomas L. Cowan
Archie J. Cranouski
Frank A. Cregle
Percy R. Daniels
Dan Diano
Albert A. Drieu
Lucy G. Drieu
Fr'ank L. Duncan
Lester H. Easton
Noel B. Easton
Sanford B. Edwards
Martin Egelevich
Elmer L. Elliott
Arthur J. Evans
Joseph F. Evans
William M. Evans
John M. Fales
Irving D. Fallon
James T. Farnan
Marion S. Finkler
William H. Flint
John B. Fouret
Samuel S. Foxwell
Raymond L. Garvan
James H. Geary
Harry L. Gilligan
James T. Gilligan
John W. Gilligan
Henry J. Goodrow
Leonard B. Goslee
102
OLD WINDSOR
Arnold W. Granger
Robert C. Gray
John E. Grimshaw
Nornian R. Grimshaw
Clara R. Griswold
J. Randolph Griswold
Francisco Guardiano
Oscar Hallgren
Howard P. Halsey
Jeffrey J. Hammel
Wilfred J. Hammel
C. Jarvis Harriman
Dorothy Hayden
Oliver M. Hayden
William J. Hayden
Raymond D. Hayes
Duncan W. Hebebrand
Russell E. Herney
William Hepburn
Frederick F. Herbick
T. Phelps Hollister
Raymond J. Hoskins
Henry L. Hubbard
Ralph S. Hudson
Charles A. Huntington, Jr.
George E. Jackson
Harrison M. Jackson
Leroy T. Jackson
Ax€l Jensen
James B. Johnstone
Charles H. Jorden ,
Ludlow H. Kaeser
Andrew Kalchert
George M. Kayser
Helen A. Kennedy
Russell L. Kimberley
Marshall O. Lanphear
Antony J. Lapinski
John F. Laverty
Thomas J. Lawless
Arthur C. Lewis
Samuel Linsky
Adelor L. Livernois
Robert J. Lloyd
Harold F. Loomer
Henry S. Loomis
Theodore R. Loomis
Jarvis B. Lovell
Elmer G. Lyman
Russell E. Lyman
Carl A. Malmstrom
James T. Malone
John H. Maloy
Harry W. Manning
Lionel V. Marks
George R. Martin
Arthur N. Matthews
C. Nancy Maude
Miriam M. Maude
William J. Maxwell
Michael T. McCarthy
Dana W. Medling
Paul W. Merrill ■
Alfred W. Merritt
.Samuel T. Metcalfe
John F. Moore
Idris Morgan
George L. Mulanauskus
William L. Mullaley
Henry E. Murray
Joseph Mushrim
Robert Neher
Theodore F. Neuhaus
James A. Nichols
George E. Niles
Henry B. Niles
Julius F. Niobaris
John E. Nolan
John J. Nolan
Katherine E. Nugent
George F. O'Brien
John C. O'Brien
Joseph D. Oldroyd
Robert L. Orr
Harry G. Osborne
Stanley Ostrich
Howard H. Paine
Alfred J. Parenteau
Donald E. Parker
Hudson C. Pelton
Charles D. Perry
William L. Perry
Charles R. Peterson
F. Victor Peterson
Dexter M. Phelon
Francis W. Piechowski
John L. Porcheron
William B. Purnell
George A. Ramsdell
Mortimer V. Rand
Russell H. Rand
J. Ford Ransom
Rollin M. Ransom
Ray V. Raymond
Philip Remington
Hollis Reynolds
Ray L. Rivers
Charles L. Rollet
John W. Rosen
Stanli Sabonis
James F. Slands
Walter M. Saport
Charles Schaefer
Chiistopher Schaefer
GOVERNMENT
103
Elbert A. Searle
Charles E. Sellers
Charles H. Sharp
James W. Shepard
Albert H. Sipple
Allison L. Smith
Herbert L. Smith
Edwin R. Snelg-rove
Fi'aink G. Snelgrove
Elmer H. Steele
Kenneth W. Stevens
Frederick W. Stone
Herbert W. Strong
Richard M. Summercorn
William H. Swan
Paul N. Taylor
Arthur W. Tracy
George R. Tracy
Homer R. Turner
Walter A. Turning
William T. Tustin
Biagio Uricchio
Herbert Vail
Chai'lts Van Allen, Jr.
Sai'dy Vendetta
Ralph R. Vernon
Ernest F. Wagner
Joseph E. Wagner
William F. Wall
Harry A. Warmsley
Clarence E. Warner
Melville L. Waterhouse
Frank Weber
John R. Welch
Louis H. Welch
Jennings T. Welles
H. Tudor White
Hazel J.Wilbraham
Russell A. Wilcox
George H. Williams, Jr.
Nelson M. Williams
Walter L. Williams
Charles Wixson
George L. Wolf
Konstant Yuskevich
IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES
TO THIS GREAT CAUSE
Nicholas Antink
H. Carleton Chidsey
iStanley Colody
William B. Cornish
Seth H. Dickinson
Lewis R. Elkey
Howard B. Gray
Zachary Kravoy
Earle H. Paine
Reise M. Pendleton
Aleck Stankewicz
Ddminick Strikitis
The American Legion Auxiliary
On December 14, 1925, the first steps were taken towards
organizing an Auxiliary to Gray-Dickinson Post No. 59,
Aonerican Legion. The first regular meeting was held at the
Legion Home one month later, January 14, 1926, at which time
the following officers were elected :
President, Mrs. Marjorie Campbell; 1st Vice-President,
Mrs. Ruth Christensen ; 2nd Vice-President, Mrs. Edna Howes ;
Secretary, Miss Florence Grimshaw; Treasurer, Miss Alice
Kennedy ; Sergeant-at-Arms, Miss Muriel Snelgrove ; Chaplain,
Mrs. Belle Brown ; Historian, Mrs. Berthe Wagner.
There were 46 Charter Members, and the Unit's Charter
was signed and delivered March 20, 1926.
104 OLD WINDSOR
The present officers, installed September 27, 1934, are as
follows :
President, Mrs. Eleanor Higgins ; 1st Vice-President,
Mrs. Mary P. Strother ; 2nd Vice-President, Mrs. Irene Greene ;
Secretary, Mrs. Nellie Bennett; Assistant Secretary, Mrs.
Doris Davis; Treasurer, Mrs. Marion Bill; Sergeant-at-Arms,
Mrs. Ethel Evans; Chaplain, Mrs. Irene Easton; Historian,
Mrs. Grace Hubbard.
The membership for the year ending December 31, 1934,
was 106. The aims and piirposes of the organization are best
summed up in the Preamble to its Constitution, which reads as
follows :
"For God and Country, we associate ourselves together for
the following purposes : To uphold and defend the Constitution
of the United States of America; to maintain law and order;
to foster and perpetuate a one hundred per cent. Americanism ;
to preserve the memories and incidents of our association
during the Great War; to inculcate a sense of individual obli-
gation to the community, state, and nation; to combat the
autocracy of both the classes and the masses; to make right
the master of might ; to promote peace and good will on earth ;
to safeguard and transmit to posterity the principles of Jus-
tice, Freedom, and Democracy ; to participate in and contribute
to the accomplishment of the aims and purposes of the Ameri-
can Legion ; to consecrate and sanctify our association by our
devotion to mutual helpfulness."
The Auxiliary has taken its place in the community as an
organization devoted to service. The first year of its existence,
the Unit began the task of creating public demand for a suitable
memorial to Windsor's war dead, and also of soliciting funds
for this purpose. This project had the co-operation and assist-
ance of almost every other organization in town, as well as
that of countless patriotic individuals, but the Auxiliary took
the leading part from the time the plan was conceived until the
final dedication of the handsome bronze eagle on the Green.
The second major project in which this Unit took an
active part consisted in obtaining subscriptions with which
to organize the Windsor Public Health Nursing association.
GOVERNMENT 105
The Legion sponsored this movement, but the Auxiliary did a
large part of the house-to-house canvassing of the entire town.
Another important service rendered by this organization
has been the centralization and distribution of special Christ-
mas relief to the needy. Before the town maintained a paid
social worker, there were many churches, clubs, and individuals
who wished to make donations but did not know how to avoid
working at cross-purposes. The Auxiliary has been acting as a
central agency for this work for eight years. At Christmas,
1934, forty families were generously remembered.
In March, 1934, the Auxiliary inaugurated an intensive
10-day drive to secure used but still usable, books for the
Windsor Public Library and its branches, which received about
230 volumes as a result of this project.
One year later, March 24, 1935, the Unit was awarded a
National Citation of Merit for its outstanding accomplishments
in all types of Auxiliary activities during the preceding year.
This was one of only three such Citations awarded in the entire
Eastern Division of the United States.
Sons of the American Legion
To extend the principles for which the American Legion
stands a meeting was held at the Legion Headquarters on the
evening of April 2, 1935, at which sixteen boys signed an appli-
cation for a charter for a Windsor Squadron of the Sons of the
American Legion, and appointed Frank E. Watts, Jr., tem-
porary chairman, to carry on the work of the organization
until a permanent organization should be effected. The fol-
lowing are the names of the boys who signed the application :
Frank E. Watts, Jr., Wilfred C. Bennett, Robert Fuller,
Gardner McCabe, Michael E. Peters, Michael R. Peters, Syl-
vester J. Peters, Norman Gaudet, Samuel S. Hawley, Philip L.
Hawley, George N. Greene, Jr., Arnold Leroy Trenn, Elton
Howard Trenn, Mortimer J. Higgins, R. Preston Higgins and
Samuel S. Higgins.
On May 3, 1935, officers were chosen for this newly-
organized squadron. Sons of the American Legion, at the
Legion Headquarters. The officers are: Captain, Michael R.
106 OLD WINDSOR
Peters ; First Lieutenant, Arnold L. Trenn ; Second Lieutenant,
Robert Fuller; Chaplain, Gardner McCabe; Finance Officer,
Sylvester J. Peters; Adjutant, Frank E. Watts, Jr.; Historian,
Gilbert Berry ; Sergeant-at-Arms, George N. Green, Jr.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars
Tho Windsor sent a host of her sons to serve in all our
country's wars, it was not until April 11, 1935, that a Post of
the Veterans of Foreign Wars was organized in this town. On
that date a Post was formed in the club rooms of the Hartford
Post on Windsor avenue near the city line. Its membership is
drawn ma'nly from those who served in the Spanish American
War in 1898,from those who served in Mexico preceding our
entrance into the World War, and from those who saw actual
service on foreign soil during the World War.
The Post is named the Berry-Lawson Post No 3272 in
honor of Gilbert Silas Berry and John McCormick Lawson, two
deceased veterans of the World War, who served in France.
Thru the generosity of the Hartford Post the Windsor Post
enjoys the privilege of sharing in the use of their club room and
headquarters.
The officers chosen at the first election of the Post are:
Commander, Douglas F. Hopkins; Senior Vice-Commander,
John Jesse Colpitts ; Junior Vice-Commander, George Frederick
Gordon; Officer of the Day, John Francis Zackaro; Quarter-
master, Walter V. Howes; Chaplain, Walter Howard Tirrell;
Adjutant, Vine R. Parmelee.
The membership on May 1, 1935, was 52.
Two Town Halls
Before 1877 it was the custom to hold town meetings in
the different meeting houses, sometimes at Windsor Center and
sometimes, at Poquonock. Elm Grove Hall was also used for
the same purpose.
On November 3, 1877, at a town meeting held in the base-
ment of the Methodist Church at Windsor Center, it was voted
to build a Town Hail at Windsor Center at a cost of Seven
GOVE.RNMENT 107
Thousand Dollars and another at Poquonock at a cost of Three
Thousand Five Hundred Dollars.
September 3, 1878, another town meeting added Three
Hundred Dollars to the appropriation for- the building at
Windsor Center. November 6, 1878, One Thousand Dollars
was appropriated to finish and furnish the Town Hall and
fence the lot on which it stood. The building was evidently
nearij^ completed for a town meeting had already been held in
it during the previous month of October.
A clock was placed in the tower of the new hall and on
October 4, 1880, a town meeting voted, ''Whereas Mrs. Abby
Loomis Hayden has presented to this town a valuable town
clock and bell, therefore, Hesolved that we cheerfully accept
the gift and hereby tender our hearty and sincere thanks as a
token of our appreciation."
The work at Poquonock had lagged for three years. Then
on December 11, 1880, it was voted that a committee be
appointed to build the hall on land to be purchased of James
M. Brown. The committee appointed to perform this duty
was William L. Bidwell, Richard D. Case and Joseph C.
Hungerford.
An act of the legislature approved April 8, 1881, divided
the town of Windsor into two voting districts, the first to con-
sist of school districts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, and the second to
embrace school districts 7, 8, 9, and 10. This stimulated activ-
ity and the building plans were carried forward with renewed
vigor.
On July 2, 1882, a town meeting added Four Thousand
Five Hundred Dollars to the appropriation. On May 12, 1883,
a town meeting was held in the building now nearly completed
at which authority was given to settle unpaid bills amounting
to $888.98 and the building committee were instructed to
furnish the new building at a cost not to exceed $350.00.
After the completion of these Town Halls two sets of
election officials directed the casting of ballots at all elections
in the two voting districts. Town meetings for the transaction
of the town's business alternated, being held one year at Wind-
108 OLD WINDSOR
sor Center and the following year at Poquonock, until March,
1920, when it was voted, "That in the future the Town Hall
at Poquonock be discontinued for the use of town meetings and
caucuses, said town meetings and caucuses to be held in the
Town Hall at Windsor."
On March 19, 1931, an act of the legislature was approved
making three voting districts in Windsor. The new third dis-
trict comprises the south part of the old first district from
the Hartford line north to an east and west line passing thru
a point one hundred and fifty feet north of the intersection
of Windsor Avenue with the north line of Seymour Street.
Since that date elections have been conducted in the two
Town Halls and the Auditorium of the Roger Ludlow School.
Town meetings as before this time are held only in the Town
Hall at Windsor Center.
Town Plan Commission
Acting under the authority conferred by a special act of
the legislature approved April 3, 1917, a town meeting was
held on March 4, 1918, to elect three commissioners, who
acting with the three selectmen of the town, should form a
board of town plan commissioners whose duty should consist
in making surveys and maps of the town showing locations
for public buildings, highways, streets, parkways, and building
and veranda lines.
According to this plan any owner of land may show on
maps that he has made his proposed highways, streets, and
building lines, which the commissioners may approve or reject.
Persons desiring to erect buildings must get a permit
from the commissioners and make their buildings conform to
the requirements of the commission.
Fred H. Young, Thomas F. Connor, and Joseph B. Spencer
were elected to serve for the first term of this commission.
The present members in addition to the selectmen are Ernest
S. Clark, Jr., Homer R. Turner and Harry G. Smith.
GOVERNMENT 109
The Board of Finance
In 1919 Windsor decided to abandon the long used method
by which the town had made up its list of appropriations to
meet the financial obligations and expenses of the town, and
adopted the modern budget system with a board of finance
authorized to hear and pass judgment upon all applications for
appropriations of money before they can be presented to the
town meeting for acceptance or rejection by the voters. The
board of finance consists of six members two of whom are
elected each year to hold office for a period of three years.
(Special terms were provided for the members first elected.)
The first board elected on October 6, 1919, was as follows :
Elliot H. Andrus and Edward J. Kernan, elected for three
years; Oliver J. Thrall and John E. Luddy, elected for two
years; Charles 0. Clark and Albert H. House elected for one
year. This board assumed its duties in 1920. The present
members are John B. Stewart, Leland P. Wilson, Louis L. Rand,
Charles A. Huntington, Jr., Edward J. Kernan, and James J.
Dillon.
The Town Court of Windsor
The local system of administering justice that began in
1639, when the town was given authority by the General Court
"to choose out 3, 5, or 7 of their cheefe Inhabitants" (select-
men), who should have power "to heare, end, and determine
all controversies, eyther trespasses or debts not exceeding 40
shillings, provided both partyes live in the same Towne," and
that later developed into the traditional New England jus-
tice's court came to an end in Windsor on May 1, 1929.
On that date a special act of the legislature became effec-
tive creating "The Town Court of Windsor," "which shall have
jurisdiction of all crimes and misdemeanors committed within
said town, and of all violations of by-laws and regulations of
said town, punishable by a fine not exceeding Two Hundred
Dollars, or by imprisonment in a common jail or workhouse for
a term not exceeding six months." PoHce court jurisdiction
and the general functions of town courts also go to this court.
The general assembly appoints the judge and a deputy judge
110 OLD WINDSOR
for a period of two years. The judge appoints a prosecuting
attorney who has the powers and authority of a grand juror.
Vine R. Parmelee has served as judge since the organiza-
tion of the new system. Alfred W. Olds was the first deputy
judge, Carlan H. Goslee was appointed the first prosecutor and
Irving L. Carrier, the first clerk. The present (May 1, 1935)
deputy judge is Dr. Clyde A. Clark. Charles E. Mahoney is
prosecuting attorney and Russell H. Pellington is clerk.
In connection with the work of the town court the ser-
vices cf the town's faithful constables deserves more than
passing notice. Respect for law and order has caused the
constable to be held in high esteem from the earliest days.
The first constable mentioned in the records of the Connecti-
cut colony was Henry Wolcott of Dorchester (Windsor), one
of the town's most respected citizens. Men fearless in the
discharge of difticult and sometimes dangerous duties have
been demanded. Today (1935) a name known to practically
every resident of the town young or old is that of Maurice
Kennedy, the officer who is constantly engaged in the work of
a constable and a detective, whose work takes him into all parts
cf the state and often into other states. Constable Kennedy is
serving his twenty-sixth year for the town of Windsor and
has recently been appointed Deputy Sheriff for Hartford
County.
Windsor's seven constables for the current year are:
Maurice Kennedy, John Christensen, John H. Sipple, Fred C.
Wilbraham, Fred W. Munsell, Fred Trocchi, Arthur E. Hen-
rechson.
The Metropolitan District
May 13, 1929, a charter was granted by the legislature to
the city of Hartford and adjoining towns that might wish to
unite with the city to form a metropolitan district. On October
7, 1929, Windsor by a vote of 732 "yes" to 189 "no" became a
part of this district. As now constituted the district consists
of Hartford and the towns of Windsor, Wethersfield, Newing-
ton, and Bloomfield. New Britain also is affiliated with the
district to the extent of receiving its water supply from the
GOVERNMENT 111
metropolitan system and having a representative v^ho meets
with the district commissioners and has a vote on matters
connected with the management of the water supply and dis-
tribution.
The district has charge of the construction and main-
tenance of sewers within its territory ; controls the streams
and water courses ; manages the affairs of the water system
and the transmission of water by pipes or otherwise ; and lays
out, constructs, and maintains highways that enter or pass
thru more than one of the towns, if they are turned over to
the district by the towns.
The affairs of the district are administered by a board of
twenty commissioners appointed by the governor of the state.
Windsor's representatives on the commission are Clayton P.
Chamberlin, John B. Stewart, and Walter S. Hastings. The
commissioners appoint a board for regional planning and a
board of finance. On the latter board Windsor has two rep-
resentatives, Leland P. Wilson and John B. Stewart.
Zoning and Building Regulations
By a special act of the legislature passed in 1931 Windsor
was authorized to call a special town meeting for the purpose
of creati'ng a zoning commission consisting of five members
with authority to divide the town into districts and to adopt
regulations concerning the size, height, type, and general
character of the buildings to be erected in these districts and
the alteration and repair of these buildings. The commission
should also have authority to regulate and restrict the location
of trades and industries in all the districts.
The election for the first commissioners was held June 1,
1931, and Leland P. Wilson was elected to serve for one year;
Oliver J. Thrall, to serve for two years; James J. Dillon, to
serve for three years ; Theodore F. Neuhaus, to serve for four
years ; and Homer R. Turner, to serve for five years. The mem-
bers whose terms have expired have thus far been reelected
for five years.
A board f o appeals is provided for those who are dissatis-
iied with the rulings and decisions of the commissioners. This
112 OLD WINDSOR
board consists of Robert W. Clark, Charles F. Taylor, Raymond
W. Smith, Donald R. Griswold, and Howard C. Thrall.
List of Town Clerks
As the town clerk is one of the most important and
responsible of the town officials it is gratifying to note that
Windsor has been especially fortunate in the character and
ability of the men who have served the town in this capacity.
The list of clerks since the adoption of the Fundamental
Orders includes:
Dr. Bray Rossiter 1639-1652
Matthew Grant 1652-1682
Henry Wolcott 1682-1703 . ,
John Moore 1703-1717
Timothy Loomis 1717-1739
Henry Allyn 1740-1803
Elisha N. Sill 1803-1831
James Newberry 1831-1832
Anson Loomis 1832-1836
William Howard 1836-1846
Sidney Bower_^ 1846-1855
(1854-1855 — Lemuel A. Welch served as
Town Clerk Pro Tem.)
Horace Bower 1855-1877
John B. Woodford _1877-1885
Samuel E. Phelps 1885-1892
Isaac W. Hakes, Jr., 1892-1894
Henry A. Huntington 1894-1903
Samuel E. Phelps 1903-1905
George R. Maude 1905-1919
Paul N. Taylor 1919-1921
Leslie H. Hayes 1921—
(The dates given are in most cases the dates of election.
The term of actual duties begins January 1 following the date of
election.)
GO'VERNMiENT 113
The Highway Department
In the Town Clerk's office there is a little book entitled
A Record of Town Wayes in Windsor. It contains a copy
made by Timothy Loomis, Register, of early original records
made by Matthew Grant in 1654 of the highways then exist-
ing in Windsor.
One of these highways starts from "the south side of
the Rivulet against the ferry from the place where they pass
over with horse and cart when the River is loo" . . . "all
a Long by the River to the corner at the mouth of the Mill
Brook" . . . then between the lots owned by several men
to the mill . . then apparently thru East Street and "along
the swamp" thru several wood lots whose owners had given
a written right of way, and across the Farmington to Po-
quonock and beyond.
Another "waye" went south between the property of this
man on the east or north and that man on the south or west
to Hartford Bounds. Other "wayes" ran in other directions
over courses designated by naming the men who owned the
land on each side. These public roads were specified in some
cases as two rods wide, in others, three rods wide. In sections
where the same man owned on both sides of the highway it
was to go "in the place where it is now trod out, or neer about
as shall be most Conveniant."
These roads were kept open and unobstructed in order that
horses and oxen could haul carts over them but little was
done to improve them. People who simply wished to travel
either walked or rode their saddle horses. After the Revolu-
tionary War there came gradual improvement in the highways
and with the advent of carriages and buggies still more labor
was expended upon them, but modern roads as we know them
today waited till the automobile had made them necessary.
Highway surveyors in charge of districts gave place to the
Selectmen who cared for the roads and streets until 1924.
Compared with surrounding towns the highways of Windsor
had a good reputation. But the time came when scientific road
building and care were needed to meet the demands of modern
traffic.
114
OLD WINDSOR
THE OLD WAY OF "W'OiEKING ON THE ROAD"
1 The late Judge D. Ellsworth Phelps stands in his yard
watching the work in front of his home
In 1924 af ^er much study the town decided to place the
management of its highways and bridges under the control
of one man with full authority to expend the appropriations
for the highway department. Claude A. Magill, an experienced
engineer and public works manager, was made Superintendent
of Highwaj^s and Bridges and entered upon his duties Novem-
ber 4, 1924. In taking this step as in many others during her
history Windsor was among the pioneers and today Windsor
stands almost alone among Connecticut towns in having a
highway department with full responsibility for the care
of its highways and bridges.
Fcur of the main highways within the town have passed
into the hands of the state and are removed from town man-
agement. These roads are:
1. From Hartford thru Windsor to Windsor Locks,
via Windsor Avenue and Palisado Avenue.
2. From Windsor via Poquoncck Avenue to Po-
quonock and then to Windsor LockS' — except the bridge
at Poquoncck and fifty feet of the approaching highway
to the south and one hundred feet of highway to the north,
which remain under town control.
3. Blcomfield Avenue from the High School to the
Bloomfield line.
GOVERNMENT 115
4. Park Avenue from Sage Park Road to the Bloom-
field line. These roads comprise a total of about sevens
teen miles.
The remaining eighty-three miles of Windsor highways
are under town control and cared for by the Superintendent of
Highways and Bridges. Of these forty-seven miles have been
improved and compare favorably with the best in the state
while the rest are superior to most roads not classified as
"improved."
To carry on this work the highway department employs
a force of twelve to fifteen men and owns and uses as part of
its equipment eight dump trucks, an express truck, a tractor,
a motor grader, a concrete mixer, a roller, and six snow plows.
At the department headquarters on East Street a tobacco
shed has been transformed into a shelter and garage; a con-
crete garage includes a shop where the painting and repair
work is done ; and a steel garage houses the rest of the equip-
ment.
New streets are added from time to time as required by
new developments, but they must be laid out according to the
requirements of the Town Plan Commission and their lines and
grades established, after which they must be approved and
recommended by this Commission and the Superintendent of
Highways and Bridges before they can be presented to a town
meeting for acceptance.
The Welfare Department
From the earliest days the community has always fully
recognized its obligation to take care of the poor and unfortu-
nate, but the necessity for a welfare department was long
delayed. At first almost all the effort was directed to preven-
tion rather than cure. No one was permitted to enter the town
and settle as an inhabitant unless he met the approval of those
already there, and great pains were taken to see that newcom-
ers were persons of good -character and capable of supporting
themselves. Actual need, however, on the part of inhabitants
was met by prompt relief from the town or the church, which
at first was practically identical with the town.
116 OLD WINDSOR
In the course of time the care of the poor became one of
the duties of the selectmen. They had authority to take the
children of the poor and bind them out by indenture to respon-
sible persons who should act as foster parents until they be-
came old enough to support themselves.
Property owners who were regarded as incompetent to
manage their own affairs were taken under the guardianship
of the town fathers in accordance with the method shown in
the following document, one of many found among the early
records. We give it in full without change except the substi-
tution of Doe and Roe for the actual names.
We the Subscribers Selectmen & overseers of the Poor of
the Town of Windsor having diligently and carefully inspected
into the Circumstances and affairs of the Widow Naomi Doe,
Ephraim Roe, & Mary Roe all of said Windsor and find that by
Reason of inability & mis judgment in the management of their
affairs they are likely soon to be reduced to poverty & want we
do therefore appoint Ozias Lomiss of said Windsor to oversee
advise & direct them the said Naomi Doe, Ephriam Roe, &
Mary Roe in the management of their affairs until it shall be
otherwise ordered by the Select Men of the Town of Windsor.
Dated Windsor July 6th, A D 1795
Henry Allyn
Hezekiah Latimer
Elihu Griswold
Josiah Bysell
Selectmen
Windsor
During the nineteenth century temporary aid was given
by selectmen's orders on the town treasurer to supply food,
clothing, medicine, and funeral expenses. Those requiring
extended or permanent support were "boarded out" at the
expense of the town.
It was felt by many that this method was unsatisfactory
and Mr. H. Sidney Hayden, one of the town's generous bene-
factors, purchased a farm on East Street known as the Hiram
Buckland estate and on September 22, 1887, deeded it to the
town for a nominal consideration as a home for the town's
poor "only reserving to himself the right to approve in writing
GOVERNMENT
117
the husband and wife placed in charge of the Home for the
care of the Poor."
THE TOWN FA EM
The town farm was operated by a manager and matron
until 1927, Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert F. Upham being the last to
occupy those positions. Since their retirement the home has
been rented and the tenant has boarded the few who are sup-
ported at town expense. Mrs. Selina E. Thompson is the pres-
ent tenant and matron of the home.
Due to the disastrous financial depression, which began in
1929, a new agency for administering relief had to be created
in 1933. On October 18 of that year Mrs. Ethel K. Stowe was
engaged by the town as a social worker in charge of the varied
forms of relief work necessitated by the emergency conditions.
She employed as her secretary Miss Lillian McElwain, and in
April, 1935, Miss Elna Duerell was added to her staff as an in-
vestigator. The gravity of the local situation is shown by the
fact that in the month of January, 1935, 132 families and 668
individuals were on the relief rolls.
The Department of Health
Under the provisions of an act of the legislature passed
in 1893 Dr. Newton S. Bell was appointed Health Officer for
Windsor and held this position until his death in 1910. On
March 26 of that year Dr. Howard F. King was appointed his
successor and in turn carried on the work of the health de-
partment until his death September 19, 1925. Dr. King was
118
OLD WINDSOR
succeeded by Dr. Lester F. Turney, who is still serving- as
Health Officer.
LEISTE'R F. TURNEY, M. D.
In 1922 and 1923 the work of the department was aug-
mented by the employment of a school nurse, the expense being
borne by the local Red Croiss. In 1924 the expense of the
school nurse was made a part of the school budget and is now
regarded as a part of the regular school appropriation. Mrs.
Isabelle B. Goodale has served in the capacity of nurse since
1922.
In 1924 thru the support of the Red Cross the pupils of
the public schools were given still further health service in
the form of regular dental clinics conducted weekly at the
schools during the larger part of the year. These were found
to be of great value and have been continued to date. Dr.
Edward J. Brennan has been the school dentist since the incep-
tion of this service.
The immunization of children against diphtheria, small
pox vaccination, the regular inspections by the Health Officer
GOVERNMENT 119
and the School Nurse, clinic service for tonsils and adenoids,
advice to parents, and dental care have been of untold value in
safe-guarding the health of the young.
In order to extend the work of a public health nurse so
as to include cases of need in the entire town, the Gray-Dick-
inson Post No. 59 of the American Legion sponsored a move-
ment in the spring of 1929 to organize a Public Health Nurs-
ing Association for Windsor. The association was organized
and held its first official meeting March 21, 1929, in the
American Legion rooms. On May 27 following, Mrs. Ida C.
Davis was elected Public Health Nurse and provided with an
automobile for use in the discharge of her duties.
Mrs. Davis remained in the service of the association until
May, 1932, when Miss Marjorie Campbell Taylor (now Mrs.
Marjorie Taylor Nelson) was engaged as her successor. The
need of this important public service has been abundantly
proven and the work of the Public Health Nursing Association
has come to be regarded as indispensable.
The Tax Assessors
Perhaps the duties of no town officers have changed more
in a centurj' and a quarter than have the duties of those men
who assess the town taxes. In 1807 James Brown received
78 cents for making the tax list of the Half Mile district and
in 1809 John M. Niles received |3.57 for the duties involved
in making the list for the Parish of Poquonock.
By the year 1900 three assessors were required to
spend about two weeks annually to assess the taxes of the town,
while in 1934 and 1935 the task occupied five months.
To facilitate this work and make it more accurate and
equitable the to'wn had made in 1928 a series of aerial maps
at a cost of $19,500.00. These maps, about 160 in number, are
on a scale of 100 feet to the inch and show every person's
land and buildings.
The present assessors are: Joseph B. Spencer, Nelson M.
Williams, and Horace W. White. Mr. Spencer holds the record
for long time service, having held the office of assessor con-
120
OLD WINDSOR
JOSEPH B. SIPBN'OER, Veteran Assessor
tinuously since 1908, and is regarded as an expert in matters
pertaining to tax laws and taxation.
TOWN OFFICERS
For the purpose of comparison with the lists of earlier
days and as a record for future reference this list for 1935
is given.
Selectmen
Eleazer Pomeroy
Leland B. Granger
John H. Garvan
Tax Collector
Earle E. Edwards
Windsor Trust Co., Agent
Board of Finance
John B. Stewart
James J. Dillon
Charles A. Huntington, Jr.
Edward J. Kernan
Louis L. Rand
Leland P. Wilson
Board of Assessors
Joseph B. Spencer
Nelson M.
Horace W.
Williams
White
Registrars of Voters
Helen R. Murray-
Ruth B. Purnell
Library Directors
Mrs. George N. Burnham
Emma H. Chamberlain
Winnifred K. Everett
Rebecca C. Kernan
Emma Morgan
Harold T. Nearing
GOVERNMENT
121
Town Treasurer and Agent
of Town Deposit Fund
Lester F. Turney
F.oard of Relief
Bui-ton S. Loomis
Hilliard Bryant
Otis L. Conant
Board of Education
Ulric B. Mather
Harmon T. Barber
Nellie Foster Clark
Grand Juror
Carlan H. Goslee
Zoning Commission
Leland P. Wilson
Theodore F. Neuhaus
Ralph B. Spencer
Oliver J. Thrall
Homer R. Turner
Building Inspector
Charles J. White
Dog Warden
J. Herbert Filkins
Judge of Probate
George R. Maude
Board of Appeals
Robert W. Clark
Donald R. Griswold
Raymond W. Smith
Charles F. Taylor
Howard F. Thrall
Town Clerk
Leslie H. Hayes
Town Plan Commission
Eleazer Pomeroy, Chairman
Leland B. Granger
John H. Garvan
Ernest S. Clark, Jr., Secretary
Harry G. Smith
Homer R. Turner
Justices of the Peace
Alden E. Alford
Clyde A. Clark
Jesse R. Colpits
Mason C. Green
Robert P. King
James A. McCann
Alfred W. Olds
Raymond W. Smith
Fred H. Tolles
Constables
Maurice Kennedy
William Cahill
John Christensen
Francis B. McHugh
John A. Russi
Ar,thur Wall
Fred C. Wilbraham
Tree Warden
Fred H. Tolles
Superintendent of
Highways and Bridges
Claude A. Magill
Town Court
Judge
Vine R. Parmelee
Prosecuting Attorney
Charles E. Mahoney
Deputy Judge
Clyde A. Clark
Clerk
Russell H. Pellington
Asst. Prosecuting Attorney
Thomas F. O'Malley
The present area of the town is 30 square miles.
The population, census of 1930, was 8,294.
Photi) by Leek
THE WINDSOR TOWN HALL
This building' at Windsor Center is the headquarters of all Town
Officers, the Town Court, the Probate Court, and the Social Worker. All
town meetings are held here. Voting on election days takes place here,
at Poquonock Town Hall, and in the Auditorium of the Roger Woleott
School.
Educational Progress
Three Hundred Years of Educational Progress in Windsor.
These words do not imply that schools existed in this
Ancient Town quite three centuries ago. What then was the
situation ?
First of all we need to keep in mind the character of the
pioneers who laid the foundation of Windsor particularly those
who came in the years 1635 and 1636 and a little later. They
were no ordinary adventurers. They did not come in search
of gold nor for conquest or military glory. They came to es-
tablish a new home, with a new church, a new society, and a
new government. They built all three on the principle of home
rule and popular authority. They assumed all the responsibili-
ties that go with independence and self control. They made
their own laws, they elected their magistrates and officials,
they prescribed the duties and responsibilities of all whom they
entrusted with authority and held them strictly accountable
for the proper exercise of every power bestowed upon them.
Under such circumstances it became of prime importance
with them to establish a sound and effective system of popular
education. Having bestowed upon every freeman the right to
vote, universal education and self preservation became practi-
cally identical under the policies pursued for the promotion of
the public welfare. Their leaders were men of learning and
men of vision. John Warham, Roger Ludlow, Bray Rossiter,
and the Wolcotts had few superiors among all who migrated
to America in the first half of the seventeenth century. When
they and their associates in the two river towns to the south of
them established at Hartford in 1639 the first written consti-
tution that created an independent government anywhere in
the world, it was their purpose and their duty to maintain,
perpetuate, and improve the government and the social insti-
tutions they had created.
Most of the leaders of this new state had been educated
in the schools and universities of England and they never for
124 OLD WINDSOR
a moment doubted the value and the necessity of education for
their children. The lack of authentic records covering the first
twenty years following the settlement of Windsor prevents our
saying much about the earliest schools. Evidently some
parents taught their children at home, some sent their chil-
dren to be taught in the home of a neighbor and paid tuition,
and some provision was made that the children of the poor
should be educated at public expense.
In 1644, eleven years after the arrival of the first settlers,
the General Court of the Connecticut Colony approved a plan
for the encouragement of higher education at Harvard College,
the only college then established in New England, and in order
to help scholars unable to pay their expenses every family able
and willing to do so was asked to contribute not less than a peck
of corn each year and William Gaylord and Henry Clarke were
appointed a commiteet to collect the com and send it to Cam-
bridge.
In 1650 the first codification of Colonial laws was made.
This important task was performed by Roger Ludlow of Wind-
sor. In the chapter on government we have learned that this
code declared that "a good education to children is of singular
behoof and benefit to any commonwealth," and it was ordered
that the selectmen of every town should have "a vigilant eye
over their brethren and neighbors, to see, first, that none of
them shall suffer so much barbarism in their families, as not
to endeavor to teach by themselves or others, their children
and apprentices so much learning as may enable them per-
fectly to read the English tongue and knowledge of the capital
laws . . . and once a week, at least, they must catechise
their children and servants on the grounds and principles of
religion;" further they must "bring up their children and
apprentices to some honest, lawful calling, labor or employ-
ment, either in husbandry or some other trade profitable for
themselves and the commonwealth, if they will not and can
not train them up in learning, to fit them for higher employ-
ments; and if the heads of families shall fail in their duty
to provide for the education required by law, then the select-
men shall take their children and bind them out to masters,
EiDUGATXO'NAL PROGRESS 125
boys until they become twenty-one years of age and girls
until they reach the age of eighteen years." The practice of
binding out the children of the poor, authorized and sanc-
tioned as early as 1650, remained in operation for about two
centuries. Typical samples of the forms of indenture used
may be found in the chapter on Government.
The code of 1650 also declared it to be "one chief project of
that old deluder Satan to keep men from the knowledge of
the scriptures" and in order that "learning may not be buried
in the graves of our forefathers" therefore it is ordered that
every township that has as many as fifty householders shall
appoint some one within the town to teach all such children
as shall resort to him to read and write, whose wages shall
be paid either by the parents or masters of such children or
by the inhabitants in general.
And it was further ordered that every town having as
many as one hundred families should establish a school that
would prepare youths for admission to the university and any
town that did not comply with this order at the end of one year
should be made to pay a fine of five pounds annually to the
nearest school in another town.
In 1672 Windsor neglected its preparatory school for
one year and had to pay five pounds to the school in Hartford.
The first schoolmaster appointed by town officials was
John Branksr. In 1657 he received five pounds, or $16.67,
from the town treasurer. Sixty years later the scfhool com-
mittee authorized the employment of women teachers in the
summer months and Sarah Stiles was the first schoolmistress.
The first schoolhouse was erected in 1667. We do not
know the site of this schoolhouse but in 1674 another school-
house was ready for oocupancy and Mr. Cornish was engaged
to teach five months south, and seven months north of the
Rivulet (Farmington River) . Thus we see that there were tw^o
schoolhouses at this date, but it is impossible to say which
was built in 1667 and which in 1674 and we do not know the
exact location of either of them. Before these two houses
were erected, private homes, usually the homes of the teach-
ers, appear to have been used to conduct the small classes.
126 OLD WINDSOR
The year 1675 marks a memorable event in the history
of Windsor's schools. It was the time of King Philip's War and
John Fitch enrolled to protect this town and valley
from the Indians. Before leaving home he. made his will
bequeathing all his property for a school in Windsor. He was
wcunded in the famous Swamp Fight in Rhode Island and
returned home to die. His small estate became the founda-
tion of the Union School Fund wfoich was later increased by
generous gifts from the estates of Joseph Stiles, Abraham
Phelps, and Benoni Bissell. The income from this fund today
helps support the high school of Windsor, which has been
named in honor of John Fitch.
Between the years 1700 and 1712 the management of
the town schools was somewhat divided and assigned to the
parishes comprising Windsor's First Society, the Second So-
ciety, which is now East Windsor, and the Third Society, which
is now Pcquonock. In 1712 the legislature prescribed parish
or ecclesiastical authority for the management of all public
schools in the state. This act of the legislature made every
parish a school district, yet subordinate to the town. Grad-
ually, however, the parishes usurped such control as the town
was supposed to exercise and became practically independent.
After 1717 the parishes taxed themselves for the support of
schools, elected their school committees, and generally managed
their school affairs. About this time two new schoolhouses
were found necessary. One had been built in 1707 on Palisado
Green about opposite the General Pierson Home. The other
"was raised on t'other hill" April 5, 1714. The site of the
second house is supposed to have been on Stony Hill.
The law of 1712 ordered that the church parishes should
have charge of the schools and that a special tax should be
levied for their support. All the evidence that has come down
to us warrants the belief that the churdh officials spent this
special tax with care and prudence. The church records show
that in 1721 the "First Society Agread With Mr. John Allin
to keep school this year for thurty pounds if the Commi"
Licks (likes) him."
EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS 127
In 1714 the selectmen and the "civil authority" were re-
quired to visit the schools "particularly once in each quarter
of the year" and make a report in case they discovered any
■"disorders or misapplication of publick money."
Three years later (1717) the parishes were given the
power to lay a tax for the support of their schools. The rate
of the tax was 40 shillings on each thousand pounds in the
parish grand list. This rate was sometimes lowered but never
raised during the next fifty years.
In 1794 the right to lay taxes for the purpose of building
schoolhouses was given to the districts into which the parishes
had been divided about the time of the Revolutionary War.
A year later (1795) the town was required to organize
"societies" which should have the management of the schools
and the school money. This was the origin of the "school soci-
eties" which were separate and distinct from the ecclesiastical
societies that had managed the schools since 1712.
Three years later (1798) each society was given power
to appoint a number of persons not exceeding nine to serve
as school visitors. They were required to visit all schools in
the society twice each year and two of them must be present
at each visit. For forty years this system was in operation
without change. There were two school societies. The First
Society consisted of eight districts covering the southern part
of the town from the Hartford line to the Farmington River
and the Pigeon Hill section with the eastern part of the town
from Farmington to SufReld. The Second Society consisted
of four districts extending from Pigeon Hill to the northwest
boundary of the tovni.
These societies received money from the state school fund
and raised a small tax for the support of schools. The society
treasurers distributed this money to the district treasurers
who used it for teachers' salaries and school expenses and paid
it out upon orders from the district committees. The districts
taxed themselves to build and maintain schoolhouses and to
supply them with fuel.
128 OLD WINDSOR
The First Society also maintained an academy known as
the Union School which was supported partly by the income of
the Union School Fund and partly by taxation based on the
grand list of the Society.
As a rule a man's school (a school taught by a man) was
taught for three or four months in the winter and a woman's-
school for about the same length of time in the summer.
In 1838 an investigation of the schools of the state was
made because it was felt that many towns were neglecting
their duty and were doing very little to maintain a high
standard of education. They simply spent their state funds in
a careless manner with poor results. In consequence of this
investigation a State Board known as the Commissioners of
Common Schools was created and the school visitors were
obliged to make an annual report to these commissioners
shov^^ing that schools had been properly maintained according
to law, otherwise the School Societies would forfeit their share
of tlip Statp School fund.
A law passed in 1854 made it necessary for each School
Society to raise a tax of one cent on each dollar of the grand
list for the support of schools.
In 1856 the school societies wel-e deprived of all control
of the schools and their duties were taken over by the towns.
At a town meeting held on October 6 of that year reports-
from the retiring officials of the two Windsor Societies were-
received and acccepted. In their place the town appointed six
school visitors as follows : Albert Morrison, Richard Gay, Cicero
Roberts, Richard H. Phelps, Eiihu Marshall, and John B.
Woodford.
This board of six was authorized to draw school money
from the town treasury for the purpose of distribution to the
districts, which spent it for the support of schools.
The Union School, which since its earliest days had been
managed by a board of trustees, was continued under the same
form of management and Anson Loomis, H. Sidney Hayden,
and R. H. Phelps were appointed to draw orders on the treas-
urer of the Union School Fund for such part of the income of
EDUCATIONAL PBOGRDSiS 129
said fund as should be necessary for the payment of teachers
and also to manage the pecuniary and governmental affairs of
the school generally. This plan of managing the affairs of the
Union School, oir Academy, continued until 1882 when the
Academy was transformed into a town high school under the
management of a special committee of five members.
In 1909 all the public schools of the town were consoli-
dated under an act of the legislature passed in that year and
the district committee which had existed since 1773, the board
of school visitors which had the general management of
schools since 1798, and the board of five high school committ-
men which had been in control of the high school since 1882
were all abolished and the management of all schools placed
in the hands of a school coimmittee of three members, an
arrangement still in operation without change except that the
state legislature has changed their name from School Com-
mittee to the Board of Education,
The first committee elected after consolidation consisted
of Stanton F. Brown, Frank V. Mills, and John A. DuBon. Mr.
Brown was elected chairman and filled that office with honor
and distinction until 1932 except for three years 1921-2-3 when
he declined to serve.
The development of the High School is especially inter-
esting. The first academy was built in 1799. It was sup-
ported by public money but no pupil was allowed to attend
unless he furnished his share of wood to heat the school rooms.
In 1839 the building was found to be in need of so many
repairs that many citizens advised that it be abandoned and
the school discontinued. But the school had many friends
who were unwilling to see it close. Too many tender memories
were awakened in those who had enjoyed its educational ad-
vantages. There was a fight. Twice its friends appealed to
the legislature and once they took their case to the Superior
Court. The controversy ended in a victory for the school. A
committee was appointed to solicit funds for a new building,
which was erected in 1854 on the site of the present Congre-
gational' Parish House. This academy continued to serve the
town until 1893, when the Roger Ludlow Schoolhouse was
180 OLD WINDSOR
erected and the High School moved in to remain until 1922
after the erection of the John Fitch High School.
The oldest of the existing buildings is the one-room
school at Thrall which was erected about one hundred years
ago. The most famous of our buildings used for elementary
grades was the one-room brick building erected at Hayden
Station in 1841. It was built according to plans drawn under
the direction of Henry Barnard, Connecticut's world famous
educator, who was then secretary for the State Commissioners
of Public Schools.
It was one of his model schoolhouses and was considered
so superior to the ordinary one-room country school houses
then in use, that its fame spread thru the country, and it
became a model which was copied in many states besides
Connecticut. Fifty years after its erection the event was
commemorated by public exercises and the aged Henry
Barnard was the special guest of honor. Unfortunately the
building was destroyed by fire a few years later and the main
part of the present achooi'hcuse was erected on the site where
the model had stood.
Thus far we have spoken largely of the physical growth
of our school system and some of the houses that have given
it shelter. It remains to say a word about the character of
the educational product. One idea has dominated all its
history in the m'nds of those who shaped its policies. The
purpose has been to prepare the youth for the duties of citi-
zenship. In the early Colonial days life was simple and the
education corresponded to the recognized needs of the times.
Reading, writing and arithmetx were about all that claimed
attention in the schoolrooms. There is a popular fancy that the
art of spelling was also highly cultivated in the olden days and
that the youth of today have neglected and lost the meritorious
attainment of which their ancestors were justly proud, but
one who exam'nes the evidence and reads the documents and
literature that have come down to us will discover that spell-
ing was largely a gift cf nature and not an educational achieve-
ment, for in the olden days most people spelled by sound and
combined letters to represent sounds according to their indi-
E'DUOATIONAjL progress 131
vidual taste and preference. In the olden days also the home
assumed a greater share of responsibility than it does now.
The boys learned manual training, the care of animals, and
all sorts of useful chores, and grew up to help their fathers
at their trades and on the farms. The girls learned to spin
and to weave, to sew and knit, and to cook. The art of getting
a living was learned from the parents.
Three hundred years have brought into existence a new
society living a new life in a new world. Education at first
supported mainly by the parents is now supported mainly by
the public. Its most important functions then carried on in
the home have now been transferred to the school. The sim^-
ple program of the three R's has been expanded to include
history, geography, and grammar, physiology, hygiene, and
physical education, music, art, and literature, civics, citizen-
ship, and safety, sewing, cooking, and manual training, and
participation in all the social and community activities that
characterize our complex modern life. In the High School
a variety of subjects, many of them unknown to the early
settlers, form the basis of our preparation for college, lay the
foundation for success in our trades and professions, and
introduce the youth to a knowledge of world affairs, the cus-
toms of society, and the problems of actual life and leisure.
Thru all these changes one guiding purpose has remained
unchanged. As in the early days so now the state and the
towns, which make up the state, prefer to educate their chil-
dren at public expense in order to insure good citizens and
promote the public welfare. The individual cannot justly make
any claim upon the public treasury for his education except
upon the grounds that his education and his ability are to be
used to promote the best interests of society as he learns to
know and understand them. On the other hand the taxpayer
who contributes to the public treasury his quota for the sup-
port of schools to educate his neighbor's children is perform-
ing no a^t of charity or disinterested benevolence. He is
simply paying his share of the expense of maintaining a
suitable society in which to live. He is making an investment
for his own welfare as part of the public welfare.
132 OLD WINDSOR
This raises the question of what policies the schools should
be expected to adopt and follow in order that this investment
may pay the largest possible dividends. Not all of the
numerous subjects that have been introduced into the cur-
riculum of our public schools during the past three hundred
years have been placed there wholly because of their direct
contribution to good citizenship. Far from it. Most of the
arts and sciences that have been recognized as desirable
subjects for study in our schools have won their place because
of their industrial and comimercial value. Their justification
is economic. Reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic, and the
use of the mother tongue are fundamental for practically
everybody who hopes to earn a decent living. Bookkeeping,
typewriting and the commercial subjects mean bread and
butter to thousands upon thousands. Physics, chemistry,
and allied sciences are the foundation of the superstructure
which constitutes the industrial! system that dominates the
age of machinery with all its machine makers, machine owners,
machine users and tenders. Then we have the higher mathe-
matics with the history, the literature, and the other require^
ments for admission to our colleges and technical institutions
where preparation is made for leadership in business and the
professions. In all these cases the taxpayers simply club
together in order to purchase education for their sons and
daughters more cheaply than they could have purchased it as
individuals. It is good business. Every good business man
recognizes the wisdom of the policy and views its dividends
with pride and satisfaction. But how about the subjects that
deal not with the means used to attain the end but with the
end itself? What about the preparation for actual' life if we
have the material means with which to live? Is it not more
important to live than it is to earn a living? Surely we wish
to enjoy health and readily part with money in order to recover
it when illness or disease deprives us of it. It is far more im-
portant to spend money to preserve it and fortify our bodies
against disease. Hence physical education, hygiene, and the
laws and practice of healthful living have been prescribed by
law.
EDUCATIONAL PRQGRB9S ia3
The State says we must teach them in every public
school. Their value is beyond all estimate in dollars and cents.
Our teachers of health and our school nurse pay dividends to
the taxpayer far greater than any dividends paid by any stock
they now own or ever will own in any bank or railroad or gold
mine. Because of whait the schools are doing in this respect
the boys and girls of today are vastly superior in both bodily
and mental vigor to any generation that has preceded them.
Added to health and vigor comes the instinctive demand for
beauty and for culture. Art and music are preeminent for
their contributions to real worth-while living. The greatest
good in life is happiness. Happiness is largely a matter of
emotions and music is one of the most powerful and subtle
influences in the production of emotions.
It follows that music has much to do in determining the
happiness of the world and therefore pays a larger dividend
than most of the subjects taught in our schools. Its influence
goes everywhere that social life exists . . in the home,
the church, the club, the fraternity, on the stage, at patriotic
assemblies . . and what is begun in the schools is generally
carried on thru life.
We wish to live in a community where peaceful and
friendly relations prevail, where law and order are the rule
and where justice in every form whether political or social,
industrial or economic, is guaranteed to all. These happy and
much desired results can not be secured unless the people are
enlightened and well informed on political, social, industrial,
and economic conditions. Hence we have civics, social science
and economics in our schools, and we bring the newspaper into
our classrooms to give our youth that insight into real life
which is indispensable for the maintenance of what is good
and the correction of what is evil in the life of our times.
Money cannot measure the value of these dividends. All the
generation now passing out of the schools to take the helm
and guide the course of public affairs must be enlightened and
well informed or there wii'l be serious trouble in the years
ahead. We face today a whole series of problems of tre-
mendous importance whose proper solution depends upon the
134 OLD WINDSOR
wisdom and ability of these young people. We have the prob-
lems of war which has blasted and blighted the lives of mil-
lions upon millions of innocent victims and loaded the world
with a crushing burden of taxes and debt. We have the prob-
lems of industrial conflict entangled with greed, injustice, and
the tyranny of the rich and the strong over the poor and the
weak. Can the youth of today settle these questions any
better than their fathers or their grandfathers have done?
They can. Not because they possess superior wisdom but
because they possess superior knowledge and enlightenment.
For the first time in history these problems are now receiving
careful, thoro, and scientific study, and no social, political, or
economic problem is too difficult for solution provided all the
facts are common knowledge.
We have come a long* way in three hundred years. From
the simplicity of pioneer life in an age when science had hardly
awakened from the sleep of centuries and when most of the
popular sciences of modern times were not even born we have
advanced to an age where scientific knowledge, scientific in-
ventions, and scientific methods have rendered life amazingly
complex, intricate, and perplexing but at the same time fasci-
nating beyond the most hopeful dreams of our forefathers.
We would not go backward if we could and we could not if we
would but we can take satisfaction from the knowledge that
we have kept alive the spirit of the fathers, we have not
allowed learning to be buried in the graves of those who pre-
ceded us and we have learned and practiced the arts by which
a wilderness has been transformed into one of the fairest and
most peaceful communities to be found on all the earth, fnhab-
ited by a citizenry unsurpassed in virtue, morality, and
reverence for the ideals which led the early settlers to choose
this valley as a home for themselves and their descendants and
all who should follow them.
But this does not imply any obligation on our part to
observe the traditions and follow the practices of the past.
Those who settled this ancient town had had enough of tradi-
tion and established customs and practices. In fact they had
had too much and that is why they turned their backs upon
BDUGATIONAL PROGRESS 135
the Old World and came to build a democracy in the New World.
In the past education has followed too slavishly the customs
of the past. In the present education must concern itself with
present conditions and present needs. The first settlers estab-
lished here a new order and its benefits and blessings have
become the marvel of the ages and along with the changes
introduced by the new order have come constant changes in
social environment, industrial development, and the whole
scheme of living, and these have necessitated a new type of
education. Education is adaptation and preparation for de-
sirable conditions of living. Our education must continue
to change in order to meet the changing conditions. It must
be varied, for the same education does not and can not meet
the needs of all. Old and worn out practices must be aban)-
doned. New practices tested by scientific research, confirmed
by reason and common sense, and dominated by the needs of
the present and the future must be introduced and fostered.
"New occasions teach new duties; time makes ancient good
uncouth. They must upward still, and onward, who keep
abreast of truth."
School Notes
The following extracts from the school records together
with notes derived from other sources throw illuminating
side lights on the development of Windsor's educational
system.
The First School Society
The society was organized in the Meeting House of the
First Society on October 31, 1796. Captain James Hooker,
Colonel Oliver Mather, Lieutenant Eliakim Marshall, and Cap-
tain Martin Denslow were the first School Committee. Oliver
Mather was the first Treasurer. It was voted to raise a tax of
one cent on a dollar for schooling. Daniel Ela, Phineas Picket,
Lemuel Welch, Nathaniel Howard, Roger Phelps, Philip Holsey
and Abel Barber were elected "a School Committee for the
Districts in which they Severally Dwell."
October 10, 1797. It was voted "to Establish the School
Districts as they now stand north of Windsor ferry River" (the
Farmington) .
136 OLD WINDSOR
North District — ^From the Suffield line on the north ex-
tending as far south as the brook at the south end of Pine
Meadow "next north of Gaylord Denslow's Dwelling House."
This covered approximately the present town of Windsor Locks
and the east part of East Granby.
The North Middle District — South of the ncirth district
as far as the brook "near Mr. Jacob Osborn's Dwelling House."
The brook referred to was a short distance north of the pres-
ent Hayden school.
The Third District— From the North Middle south "to the
south side of Mr. Taylor Chapman's Home Lott Including
Messrs Eliakim & Samuel Mather." The southern boundary of
this district was a little less than one mile north of the Farm-
ington River Bridge near the First Congregational Church.
The Fourth District — This covered the section between
the third district and the Farmington River.
Daniel Ela, Levi Hayden, Lemuel Welch, and Nathaniel
Howard were appointed committeemen for these four districts.
November 27, 1797. It was voted to settle the bounds of
the four districts south of the Farmington River and Gideon
Barber, Elihu Drake, Abel Strong, and Fitz John Allyn were
appointed committee men for these districts.
The bounds were as follows : North District — The section
south of the Farmington as far as a line running east and
west between the homes of Oliver Roberts and Obadiah Fuller.
This line must have corresponded closely with the present
Bloomfield Avenue.
It was voted, "The School House to be Built as Near as
Convenient to the Baptist Meeting House." The schoolhouse
was built on Poquonock Avenue near where it is joined by the
Pigeon Hill road.
The North Center District extended south from the North
District as far as the homes of Oliver Loomis and Edward
Moore. The southern boundary must have been in the vicinity
of the present Capen Street. "The School House to be Sett at
or near the place where the Meeting House lately Stood."
y^DUCATIONAL PROGRESS 137
The South Center District extended south from the North
Center District to a lane running west between the houses of
Moses Barber and Job Loomis to the west bounds of the First
Society, and extending east to the Connecticut River. This
lane was near the present Rood Avenue. The School House
was to be placed "in the most Convenient place near the Dwell-
ing House of Mr. John Warner." This location was near the
present Stony Hill Schoolhouse. At a later period the district
school was kept in a building belonging tci Moses Barber, which
stood on the east side of Windsor Avenue a short distance
north of the entrance tci Rood Avenue.
The South District covered the rest of the town south to
the Hartford line. The School House was to be "Sett up in the
most Convenient place South of the Brook Called Clay Brook,
that Runs between Lemuel Drakes and David Drakes." This
location was near the site of the present Roger Wolcott School.
The schoolhouse was actually built on the east side of Windsor
Avenue facing the entrance to Pipe Swamp Road, now Wclcott
Avenue.
In 1832 the Society voted that the South District should
be known as District Number One ; the next north, as District
Number Two ; the Broad Street District (Windsor Center) , as
District Number Three ; and the District in which the Bapitst
Meeting House stood (Pigeon Hill), as District Number Four;
the South District, North of the Great Bridge, Number Five;
the next North, Number Six; the Pine Meadow District,
Number Seven. Number seven was in 1854 set off as Windsor
Locks.
The tax of one cent on a dollar for the support of the
district schools was continued yearly until 1832,
In 1834 it was voted that "the Society will do nothing
about raising money for schooling."
In 1841 the vote to lay a one cent tax on a dollar again
appear on the records. In 1854 the state made it obligatory for
the town to levy the one cent tax.
October 6, 1856, at the annual town meeting the school
society made its final report on the management of the district
138 OLD WINDSOR
schools and this management was assumed by the town,
Albert Morrison, Richard Gay, Cicero Roberts, Richard H.
Phelps, Elihu Marshall, and John B. Woodford were appointed
school visitors and given authority to draw from the town
treasury the monies appropriated for schooling. Since that
date the society's main duty has been the care of the ancient
Burying Ground and the newer Riverside Cemetery.
The Academy
In 1757 the First Church of Windsor, which, before that
time had worshiped on the north side of the Farmington River,
built a new meeting house on the south side of the river on
the site now included in the triangular green at Windsor
Center, west of the present Congregational Parish House and
south of the home of Leonard B. Goslee. This action displeased
some of the people living on north Palisado Avenue and at
Hayden and perhaps they had other reasons for feeling dis-
satisfied with the way affairs were managed in the church
At any rate they decided to form a church of their own and
build a meeting house where it could be more easily reacihed
and in 1761 they formed a new organization known as the
North Society of Windsor. They built their meeting house on
the west side of the road about a mile and a quarter north of
the site of the first meeting house which had stood on Palisado
Green. In their separate meeting houses the two societies
carried on their church activities until several years after the
close of the Revolutionary War.
With the return of peace and the establishment of a new
nation it seemed fitting that the two churches should also make
peace and settle their differences. They did so in 1793. A
part of the agreement by which the two churches again united
and became one provided that a new meeting-house and a new
union school should be built for the common use of all on both
sides of the river.
The new meeting-house was built on the north side of the
river in 1794. The Union School, commonly called the Acad-
emy was built on the south side of the river in 1799, on the
site lately occupied by the meeting-house of 1757, which had
just been torn down.
EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS 139
The Academy building was erected with funds raised by
subscription. It was a two-story building "at least of the
contents of 24 feet square upon the ground."
The North Middle School District south of the River
(later the Third School District) desired to build a schoo'j-
house at the same time and upon the same site and levied a tax
of seven cents and two mills on a dollar for that purpose.
Therefore it was agreed that the district building should be
united to one end of the Academy in "such manner that the
whole building shall appear uniform." The district part of the
building had "rooms sufficient to accommodate two schools,
one for the larger and one for the smaller schollars." Taken
in its entirety it was evidently a four room schoolhouse and
constituted a Union School in a double sense.
On November 25, 1799, the society voted "Schollars Shall
be Admitted in the School After they are Twelve Years old
untill they are Eightteen" and that the School be Set Up on the
first of June next (1800) and Continued Untill the Interest
for one year be expended." Three years later it was voted that
"If the School is more than full the Committee Impowered to
Rule out the Youngest Scholars," that "the Number to fill the
School shall not Excede 40 Scholars," and that "the Commit-
tee be Impowered to Exclude any Scholar that shall not Carry
his Share of Wood for the use of Said School."
The revenue for the support of higher education at this
time came from the iriterest on the Union School Fund which
fund then amounted to about Two Thousand Dollars. Four
trustees managed the affairs of the school. In 1808 it was
decided to increase the revenue by charging tuition to pupils
coming from other societies at the rate of four dollars per
quarter for those studying Latin, Greek, or mathematics ; three
dollars per quarter for those studying geography, English
grammar, belles lettres, and vulgar arithmetic ; two dollars per
quarter for those studying reading and writing. Pupils be-
longing to the Society were to pay half tuition. Five years
later the half tuition rule was repealed. From 1820 to 1824
funds Vv^ere raised by subscription to augment the revenue of
the schools.
140 OLD WINDSOR
The following document shows the method of making up
arrearages.
"The sums due from .cash subscribers for the continuation
of the Union School for four years from October A. D. 1820 to
make up arrearages of sd School for said term of time being
$1.19 upon each dollar subscribed April 24, 1824.
Original Subscribers' Names
Martin Ellsworth ($15) 17.85
ReV- Henry A. Rowland ($10) 11.90
Do— one-fifth of $10) 2.38
Edward Selden ( $1) 1.19
Isaac Hay den, Jr., ($3) 3.57
Jasper Morgan ( $3) 3.57
40.46
The above is handed to Jasper Morgan ... to collect
and account for . . .
Elisha N. Sill
William S. Pierson."
In 1827 it was voted that 16 cents per week be charged all
pupils who studied Englislh and 25 icents per week be charged
those that studied languages and higher mathematics.
Before 1839 a difference of opinion had arisen as to the
wisdom of continuing the school. On February 2 of that year
the society voted "53 yeas and 40 nays" to petition the next
legislature for the right to divide the "avails of the funds ap-
propriated to the Union School among the several districts in
this School society by the Schollars."
This action started a fight that lasted fourteen years.
Two hearings were held before the legislature and once the
controversy was carried to the Superior Court. All decisions
were favorable to those who wished to continue the School.
The battle to retain the Academy and preserve the Union
School Fund had been won under the leadership of Jasper
Morgan, James Loomis, and Henry Halsey.
On June 11, 1853, a meeting was held in the Academy
schoolroom and it was voted to procure a site to which the
Academy Building could be removed or on which a new build-
EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS 141
ing could be built. Henry Halsey, Anson Loomis, and Edgar
Loomis were appointed a committee to carry this work into
effect.
The task of securing funds was a difficult one. Unable to
secure the desired amount in Windsor, Henry Halsey, chair-
man of the committee, appealed to former students of the
Academy who had "gone abroad" to New York and other cities
and there achieved fame and fortune. Some of these men
responded generously.
Hon. E. D. Morgan, sent 1100.00
James Hooker
Hon. J. C. Loomis
H. B. Loomis
Sons of Levi Hayden
Gen. F. E. Mather
Wm. S. Pierson, Jr.,
R. G. and F. A. Drake
100.00
100.00
100.00
100.00
50.00
50.00
50.00
$650.00
The correspondence with these men brought out inter-
esting comments. Hon. E. D. Morgan wrote "Leaving as I did
my father's house to travel on foot to Hartford, March 20,
1828, when but seventeen years old to commence life on my own
account with but two shillings and three pence in my pocket
'Yankee currency' as capital, contracting with my late much
respected uncle Nathan Morgan to work in his store as general
clerk for a period of three years at a salary of S40 for the first
year, $50 for the second, $60 for the third year."
To Mr. James Hooker, Henry Halsey wrote: "As a com-
munity we are far from being poor. There is thrift observable
in all parts of the Society. Take us as a whole we are a hard
w^orking people, but an overestimate is made of the dollar and
an underestimate of education. It was not so fifty or sixty
years since."
Mr. Hooker replied : "While you think they overestimate
the dollar and underestimate education it is but the history of
the many in all ages. Believe me it was so in the days of my
father as well as now and will be for all time to come."
1.42
OLD WINDSOR
Local subscriptions totaled $1,874.50. The sale of old lum-
ber and the collection of debts due to the Society added $354.89.
Thus the grand total of funds available for erecting the new
Academy was $2,878.89. A lot just east of the old Academy
was purchased of James Loomis and the new Academy was
erected in 1854 on the site now occupied by the Congregational
Parish House. The cost of the land, building, and equipment
was $2,841.39. In 1855 subscribers contributed $97.00 more to
equip the upstairs hall so that it might be available for lyceum
meetings. Before the new building was erected the Third
District had donated its interest in the old building to the First
Society whii^h was now free to dispose of it, and it was re-
moved to a site on the grounds now occupied by the Lorillard
plant and used as a boarding house for operatives of the Se-
quasson Woolen Company until it was destroyed by fire in
March 1873.
From 1855 to 1882 the new building housed the Union
School under the administration of the three trustees of the
SECOND ACADEMY— Erected in 1854
EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS 143
Society. In 1877 a movement began whose purpose was to
transform the Academy into a town high school. In the same
year the lower room was rented to the Third School District as
a schoolroom for the younger pupils. This arrangement con-
tinued for five years when the Union School became a high
school (October, 1882) and was placed under the control of a
high school committee of five elected by the town. The high
school remained in this building until 1893, when it moved
into the new building erected by the Third School District on
Bloomfield A.venue. In 1894 the Academy building and lot
were sold to Strong H. Barber who resold the property to the
First Congregational Church Society for S2,050.00. About six
years later the church society sold the building to Lawrence
Mullaley, who moved it to the rear of 192 Broad Street, wihere
it still stands. As late as 1913 it was rented by the town and
used as a schoolhouse for primary grades. Since 1913 it has
been used for business purposes.
A clause in the deed given by the School Society in 1894
guarantees that the land on which the loved Academy had long
stood shall never become a school for drunkenness and intem-
perance. It reads: "The condition of this deed is such that
any time intoxicating drinks are sold on the above described
premises by or with the consent of the grantee or his suci-
cessors then in that event this deed shall be null and void and
said property shall revert back to the said First School Society
in fee simple."
High Schools
About 1871 a movement was set on foot to transform the
XJnion Academy into a High School. The difficulty of obtain-
ing sufficient funds to maintain a satisfactory school for pupils
of high school age and ability appears to have been the main
reason for desiring the change. The movement culminated in
a vote of the town on October 2, 1882, to establish a High
School in District Number Three and appropriate $775.00 for
its support. At the same time an appropriation of $200.00
was made for a High School at Poquonock, provided the Second
School Society approved the plan.
144 OLD WINDSOR
To manage the new High Schools Reuil H. Tuttle,
E. Spencer Clapp, Gowen C. Wilson, William L. Bidwell, and
Eugene Brown were elected a high school committee. The
organization of a High School at Poquonock was delayed for
several years, but the Academy was at once transformed into
a High School and Willis I. Twitchell became its first principal
in the fall of 1882. On March 22, 1883, Mr. Twitchell resigned
this position to accept the principalship of the Arsenal School
in Hartford. John Rossiter was engaged to fill the vacancy
till the following June. He was succeeded by Otis H. Adams
who was principal from September 1883 to June 1887.
June 17, 1887, the first graduation was held. There were
two graduates, Annie G. Albee and Josie E. Rhaum. The pro-
gram follows:
PROGRAMME.
Prayer.
Rev. G. C. Wilson.
Duet . . Through Valley, Through Forest.
The Misses May and Belle Dickson.
Recitation . . The Little Black-Eyed Rebel.
Dora F. Caldwell.
Reading . . Farmer Stebbins at Ocean Grove.
Katie J. Kennedy.
Vocal Duet Cheerfulness.
The Misses Zulie Caldwell and Myrtle Moffatt.
Recitation Brier Ross.
Emma D. Wilson.
Reading Jane Conquest.
May L. Dickson.
Song Graduating Ode.
Essay Cyrus the Great.
Annie G. Albee.
Solo Home, Sweet Home.
N. Belle Dickson.
Essay, with Valedictory . The Value of Reading.
Josie E. Rhaum.
Solo The Mill in the Forest.
Zulie M. Caldwell.
EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS
145
Presentation of Diplomas.
Rev. R. H. Tuttle.
Song
Good Night.
From September, 1887, to July, 1890, H. E. Sawyer was
principal. In September, 1890, Mr. Sawyer was succeeded by
Helen M. Cleveland, who served until the summer of 1893,
when the school was transferred to the new building on the
corner of Spring and Bloomfield Avenue.
Beginning in 1888 one part-time teacher was engaged to
assist the principal. Annie G. Albee was assistant for two
years and part of another. Anna D. Clapp finished the year
1890-91. Mabel E. Cobb served in that capacity till June,
1893.
THE HIGH SGHOOiL IN 1893
The High School occupied rooms on the second floor, and
lower grades occupied the rest of the building
The High School remained in the building now known as
the Roger Ludlow School Building from September, 1893, to
January, 1922, when it was transferred to its present location
in the John Fitch High School Building on Bloomfield Avenue.
The John Fitch High School on Bloomfield Avenue w^as
begun in 1921 and finished in 1922. In 1929 the first annex
was built to the east of the main building. A second annex
containing eight rooms was built in the rear of the first in.
1934.
146 OLD WINDSOR
THE JOHN FLrCH HIGH SCHOOL IN 1922
The principals since 1893 have been:
Roscoe A. Hutchinson 1893 to 1898
F. Everett Smith 1898 to 1899
Herman S. Lovejoy 1899 to 1903
John W. Kratzer 1903 to 1910
Mary M. Wilson 1910 to 1914
Charles S. Preble 1914 to 1915
W. Scott Austin 1915 to 1918
Charles A. Tucker 1918 to 1919
William Hoyt 1919 to
In the spring of 1894 it was found necessary to give the
principal an assistant and Miss Jennie Loomis was engaged in
that capacity for two hours each day and continued thru the
following year. In September, 1895, Miss Edwina Whitney
became the first full-time assistant.
Today (1935) the High School has an enrollment of 455
pupils and a teaching staff" of 18 besides the principal. Its
graduates go to the best colleges and universities or into busi-
ness and professions and do not suff'er by comparison with the
best High Schools in our state.
E'DUCATIONAiL PBOGRESiS 147
The Poquonock High School had a brief career. It opened
in 1891 with Roscoe A. Hutchinson as principal. He remained
in charge of the school until July, 1893, when he was trans-
ferred to the High School at Windsor Center. Mr. Hutchin-
son's place at Poquonock was taken in September, 1893, by
Edgar M. Johnson of East Providence, R. I., a recent graduate
of Brown University.
The next year (1894) the first class was graduated.
There were six graduates : Annie H. Clark, Addie M. Hunting-
ton, James Ramsey, Clara L. Roberts, James H. Wilson, and
Fred M. Snow.
Mr. Johnson remained as principal until the summer of
1895, when the Ninth District Committee petitioned the Board
of School visitors to discontinue the High School and establish
a grammar school in its place. The petition was granted and
since 1895 Windsor has had but one High School.
School Supervision
Prior to 1904 the only inspection and supervision of public
schools in the town of Windsor was the periodical inspection
of the School Visitors and the resultant issuing by them of
rules, regulations and orders for the guidance of the teachers.
In August of that year a vote was passed in town meeting
giving approval to the engagement of a Superintendent of
Schools. As a result the School Board at once took steps to
form a joint supervision district with West Hartford, and
William H. Hall became Superintendent of the district. At
the end of three years the supervision district was dissolved
and John W. Kratzer, principal of the High School, was ap-
pointed superintendent for the fall term of 1907, in addition
to his duties at the High School. This plan of supervision was
continued until 1910 when the towns of Windsor and Windsor
Locks united in a supervision district for a period of three
years with Daniel Howard of Windsor Locks as superintendent
giving three days each week to the schools of Windsor and
two days to the schools of Windsor Locks. At the end of the
first term the contract was renewed for another three-year
period. By 1916 the increase in Windsor's school population
and the consequent need of more supervision caused Windsor
148 OLD WINDSOR
to notify Windsor Locks that the contract would not be re-
newed for another term.
Mr. Howard removed to Windsor in the fall of 1916 and
gave his whole time to the supervision of the town schools
until July 1, 1934, when he retired as active superintendent
and was made Superintendent Emeritus by the unanimous
vote of the Board of Education.
Dr. Earle S. Russell of New Haven, an experienced
teacher and superintendent, was elected to take charge of the
Windsor Schools and entered upon his duties in the summer
of 1934.
The First District School
In March, 1805, at the request of the representatives of
the South School District, the First School Society appointed
Capt. Aaron Cook, Daniel Alcott, and Ashbel Spencer to
determine where the South District Schoolhouse should be
built. The site selected was on the east side of the main high-
way opposite Pipe Swamp Road (now Wolcott Avenue). The
building was soon erected and is known to have been in use
for some years before 1812.
November 9, 1817: "Voted to repair the schoolhouse."
This is the earliest official record referring to the house.
1818: "Voted that they will have a stove in the school-
house."
1819 : "Voted that the teacher shall board around in the
district in proportion to the scholars."
"Voted that there shall not be any scholars admitted or
taught until their proportion of wood is brought and in-
spected."
1831 : "Voted to employ Miss Laura Barber to teach our
school at one dollar and twenty-five cents per week."
1837 : "Voted that the instructor be requested to enumer-
ate the scholars daily."
1843 : "Voted that the committee be directed to hire the
teacher boarded at one place provided that he can get board
at one dollar and twenty-five cents per week."
1856 : A two-story school building was built on a new
site. This building is still standing (1935).
EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS
149
In 1916 a four- room building was erected in front of the
two-room building, which it was planned to tear down. An
unexpected increase in the school registration made it neces-
sary about two years later to resume the use of the old build-
ing and soon afterward two portable buildings were set up
nearby. In 1925 a two-room portable was removed to the
Highlands and an eight-room building erected to take care of
the increased enrollment.
THE FIRST DISTIRiICT SCHOOL— Erected in 1916
The Second District School
April 17, 1840: "Voted to commence the school on Mon-
day after the election and to continue to the first of November
and to be supported by a tax on the scholars in proportion to
the time of attendance after the public money is expended."
October 23, 1840: "Voted to raise 30 cents per scholar
for wood the ensuing season."
1850 : The old schoolhouse was sold at public auction to
Henry Capen for $68.62. A new schoolhouse was erected on
the site of the old building and additional land purchased for
a playground. This site was on the east side of the road
opposite the present schoolhouse.
1899 : The title to the schoolhouse lot on the east side of
the road was transferred to Dr. E. E. Case in exchange for a
new site on the west side of the road and a new schoolhouse
was erected.
150 OLD WINDSOR
The Third District School
February 8, 1799 : "Voted that the District Schoolhouse
be built the ensuing season," that it "shall be joined on to the
Society Schoolhouse proposed to be built," and that it shall
"have room sufficient to accommodate two schools, one for
the larger and one for the smaller scholars."
December 20, 1799 : "Voted that for the present season
there be a Man and Woman school kept in the District School-
house and that both of said schools be kept on equal time,"
that "for each scholar attending or coming to either of said
schools there shall be furnished two foot of two feet wood,
cut at two feet in length corded up and the quantity to be de-
termined by the School Master," and "that those who choose
to furnish money instead of wood, as aforesaid, may so do,
by paying to the School Master, one shilling and nine pence,
for each scholar."
1801 : It was voted that there be a man school and a
woman school kept during the winter but that neither school
should "be kept longer than so as to leave twelve dollars of
the public money to be expended in a woman school next
summer."
November 28, 1832: Voted to employ William Howard
as teacher at 13 dollars per month, he boarding himself.
1853 : The Third District purchased a building lot of
Horace Bower on the north side of Poquonock Avenue a short
distance from the site of the Old Academy. Here they erected
a wooden building which served as a schoolhouse until 1893,
in which year a brick building was erected on Bloomfield Ave-
nue. This building is now known as the Roger Ludlow School-
house. The building on Poquonock Avenue is still standing
and has been used for business purposes in recent years.
In 1913-14 a four-room annex was attached to the Roger
Ludlow School. Pupils who had been attending school in the
Academy were transferred to the new building.
In 1925 the Roger Ludlow School had become so crowded
that it was necessary to erect a new building and a six-room
brick building was constructed on Hayden Court near the
High School. This building now houses the upper grades of
the Third District and the older pupils from Stony Hill,. Pigeon
EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS 151
Hill, Bell School, and Hayden. It is named the }1. Sidney
Hayden School.
The Fourth District School
The "North District South of the River" had a school
before the days when accurate school records began to be
preserved for purposes of history. Hence few details of im-
portance are available of a date earlier than the year 1847.
On November 28 of that year a notice was issued to the voters
of the Fourth School District to meet in their schoolhouse on
December 3 following, for the purpose of making arrange-
ments to sell the schoolhouse and for "exchanging or purchas-
ing land for the erection of another thereon at or near its
present location," Also to raise money "by tax or loan to
defray the expense so incurred."
THE PIGEON HILL SCHOOL
This schoolhouse in the Fourth District was built
in 1848 and abandoned in 1923
One year later the new schoolhouse had been completed
and the following bill was paid :
Building Committee to S. Cooper, Dr.
To one schoolhouse on contract, $550.00
To extra work as agreed, 8.00
To lumber for fence, 429 feet, 6.68
To nails and building fence, 1.50
To cash paid for window sills, 1.14
To window curtains, 1.35
152 OLD WINDSOR
To 187 feet of lumber at $19.00 per M, 3.55
(A few other small items, and various
notations were included) 3.60
$575.82
Received Payment
Windsor, November 24, 1848 Sumner Cooper
The schoolhouse was a typical one-room brick building,
including the usual small entrance hall with two coat rooms,
and stood within the triangle formed by the junction of East
Street and Poquoncck Avenue.
The following order for a "man teacher" and the receipted
bill for a "woman teacher" show the character of the school
expenses about a century ago:
Windsor, March 15th, 1845, Treasurer of School District
No. 4, First Society in Windsor:
Please pay to Cicero Roberts the sum of $72.00, it being
his due for four months' service as teacher in said District at
$18.00 per month.
Yours &c.
J. P. Ellsworth, District Committee.
Mr. William Shelton Dr. to Rhoda B. Phelps for teaching
school in District No. 4 — 12 weeks at three dollars a week —
$36.00.
Rhoda B. Phelps.
Received payment, R. B. Phelps. '
The following bill tells the story of a pupil from the
Fourth District who pursued advanced studies in the First
Academy at Windsor Center:
Mr. William Shelton — To Windsor Union School, Dr.
For 23 weeks tuition at 9^— $2.88.
Received payment,
Windsor, July 28th, 1842. John L. Spencer.
Note: 9'^ equalled 12^2 cents.
The schoolhouse, which was known as the Pigeon Hill
School, was found to be unsafe in 1923. It was immediately
abandoned. Later it was sold and torn down to make way
for a modern fiHing station.
EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS
153
When a portable building was set up at Deerfield to re-
lieve the congestion in the First District, the Deerfield School
was designated as the Fourth District for purposes of book-
keeping and statistics. In 1929 the portable building was
disposed of and an eight-room brick building was erected,
which is now in use. This is known as the Deerfield School.
DEERFIEILD SCHOOL BEFORE 1929
During its occupancy this building was known
as the Highlands School
The Fifth District School
The original schoolhouse built in 1707 was a two-story
building and stood on Palisado Green until 1827, when it was
moved to a site farther north and placed on the spot now
marked by the Grant Memorial. Here it stood until early in
the school year 1870-71, when it was burned. The old school -
house lot was sold at auction and a new site selected. As the
district could not agree upon the choice of land to be purchased
the School Visitors of Windsor Locks w^ere called upon as
arbitrators. They "set off" a lot on the west side of the high-
way a short distance farther north than the old site and a
new schoolhouse was built in 1871.
November 18, 1871 : It was voted, "That the Fifth School
District accept the gift of a bell for their new schoolhouse
from G^n. Wm. S. Pierson and do return their thanks for the
154 OLD WINDSOR
same, requesting the donor to have cast on the bell his name
with date, also the following inscription : Presented by Gen.
Wm. S. Pierson to District No. 5 of Windsor, 1871."
The Sixth District School
Jabez Haskell Hayden, born in 1811, gives the following
description of the old schoolhouse in the Sixth District.
"When I was three and a half years old I went to the summer
school nearly a half a mile away, barefooted, and sat on the
little bench which was made from a slab brought from the
saw-mill. It stood on four legs set in auger holes, with the
flat side up, on which I sat with no rest for my back. For the
older pupils a writing desk was arranged along the wall at the
sides of the room, with a seat along in front of it and when the
scholars sat facing the teacher they could rest their backs by
leaning against the edge of the board which constituted the
writing desk. The room was warmed by an open fireplace in
the corner of the room, and the parents were expected to fur-
nish their quota of wood in winter for the fire and board the
schoolmaster, except such families as did not live as well as
their neighbors."
In 1841 a new schoolhouse was needed and a one-room
brick building was erected according to a plan drawn under
the supervision of Hon. Henry Barnard, then Secretary of
the State Board of Commissioners for Connecticut Common
THE HAYDEiN SCHOOL— Erected in 1S96
EeUCATIONAL PROGRESS 155
Schools. It was regarded as the model schoolhouse and was
widely copied with variations both in Connecticut and other
states and also in Europe.
On October 9, 1891, the district celebrated the fiftieth
anniversary of the erection of this schoolhouse and the aged
Dr. Barnard was present and delivered an historical address.
Four years later, October 11, 1895, the building was destroyed
by fire. For the remainder of the school year the classes met
in the Hayden Chapel, which was generously loaned for that
purpose. By the fall of 1896 a new building had been erected
on the site of the old one and substantially like it. Twenty-four
years later (1920) another room with a basement for the
heater wa§ added to the rear of the original building.
The Seventh District School
As nearly as can be ascertained the schoolhouse was built
more than one hundred years ago. The records show that
Hezekiah Griswold deeded one quarter of an acre of land to
the South School District, Second Society (later the Seventh
District), on April 28, 1806. On December 18, 1850, Talcott
Mather deeded the Seventh District one-half acre of land which
apparently covered the lot purchased in 1806. A few weeks
later the district sold back to Mr. Mather one-fourth acre.
On April 23, 1878, Hudson N. Griswold deeded to the
Seventh District the school lot as it now exists. The reason
for so many deeds covering the same lot is not apparent, but
the adjustment of boundaries and the strengthening of titles
was probably involved.
No record of the construction of the schoolhouse has been
found. Miss Candace E. Griswold reports that she was a
pupil attending this school in 1861 and she knows that her
father, her uncles, and her aunt all attended school in the
same building. The east end of the building is of later con-
struction, but it seems probable that the main part including
the classroom, was built soon after the first deed was given in
1806. As this type of schoolhouse is now an object of historic
interest we include the following cut showing how it looks
today. It is still used as a primary school for the community.
156
QLt) WINDSOR
THE SEIVEtNTH DISTEICT SCHOOL
Better known as the "Thrall School"
The Eighth District School
Accurate information regarding the schoolhouses at Elm
Grove goes back only to the year 1859, when, according to the
records of Mrs, Carrie Marshall Kendrick, her mother,
Charlotte Allen Phelps, attended school in a little wooden
building that stood on the west side of Poquonock Avenue a
short distance south of the present Elm Grove School.
One pupil, who evidently attended the school a little earlier
than 1859, has left a written record saying that the school-
house stood on high ground, which the pupils called the "hill
of science." The interior was at the time in need of repairs,
especially the ceiling, which had been broken in many places
by "unruly pupils." In one corner of the room was a closet
in which the teacher often confined these unruly pupils for
the purpose of punishment, but as the lower half of the
door was broken, the pupils quite enjoyed their punishment
while they peered thru the broken door to observe what was
taking place in the schoolroom. Just north of the "hill of
science" was a brook, which splashed and gurgled on its way
to the river.
After 1859 the building no longer served as a schoolhouse.
It was removed to a position farther west and some distance
EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS 157
from the highway and used as a dwelling house. Then another
change took place and it was made into a distillery for the
manufacture of cider brandy. Then is served as a tobacco
shed and a farm building and finally it was destroyed by fire in
July, 1924, To offset this transformation the Eighth District
bought a tavern, cut the building in two and changed part of it
into a schoolhouse. This became the present Elm Grove
schoolhouse. It was purchased February 10, 1859, from Mr.
Henry Keney. The upper room, which had been used as a
dance hall, continued to be used for that purpose and for other
community and social purposes until 1913, when the school,
which had been carried on in the lower room, became so large
as to necessitate transforming the dance hall into a second
schoolroom. Later the overflow increased and a vacant store
room on the lower floor was turned into a classroom and three
teachers were employed. The number of pupils soon began
to decrease and in 1921 all the older pupils were transferred
to the John M. Niles building at Poquonock, and since that
date Elm Grove has maintained only a one room primary
school.
The Ninth District School
August 20, 1840 : The North Middle School District (later
the Ninth District) Second Society voted to raise Five Hun-
dred Dollars by a tax to build a schoolhouse.
October 30, 1840 : At a meeting held in the schoolhouse
it was voted that the building committee procure a box stove
two and one-half feet in length for the schoolhouse.
The old schoolhouse that had been in use prior to 1840
was sold to William Soper.
April 27, 1841 : "Voted that the schoolhouse may be
occupied one year commencing the 1st April, 1841, as a place
of Public Worship by the Congregational order by the pay-
ment of twenty-five dollars."
In 1847, Miss Ellen H. Lewis was hired to teach the
summer school for seven shillings a week and board. In the
winter her salary was increased to two dollars and board.
She was to be boarded at Marcus Linsley's for eight shillings
per week provided "we can not get her boarded less."
158 OLD WINDSOR
April 19, 1853 : Voted seven hundred dollars to build an
addition to the schoolhouse.
March 11, 1874 : Voted to erect a suitable building for
a graded school at a cost not to exceed eight thousand dollars,
April 8, 1874: "Moved that the present school building
of this district be sold at public auction on Wednesday the 15th
day of April, 1874, at 71/2 P. M., the building to be given into
the possession of the purchaser on Saturday morning 25th
April at 7 o'clock A. M. and to be moved off the school lot on
or before the 2nd day of May, payment to be made to the
Treasurer of the Dist. on or before the 1st day of July, 1874."
April 15, 1874: "The old schoolhouse put up at auction.
Bid off by John Kearney for two hundred forty-five dollars."
This old building was moved to Kearney Lane north of the
Catholic Church where it is still occupied as a four-tenement
house. The new building which had four rooms that are still
in use stands on the site of the old one. School was opened
in the new schoolhouse in the fall of 1874. In 1916 two more
rooms were added to make the present six-room building.
July 12, 1876 : "Moved, whereas R. E. Ensign as Com-
mittee of the 9th School Dist. of Windsor allowed the study
of Latin contrary to the express vote of the district, voted that
we censure him for his conduct." This vote was "not carried."
The Tenth District School
Previous to 1870 a schoolhouse stood on the east side of
the highway at the foot of the hill just north of the present
Rainbow School. Between 1870 and 1873 this building was
abandoned and a new one-room building was erected on the
present school lot. In 1878 this building was found to be
inadequate for the number of pupils to be accommodated and
an added room, now known as the ell, was built on the north
side of the first building.
The Eleventh District School
Before the year 1916 no one had suggested the need of
a school at the Griffin Tobacco Plantation. A small number
of children living on the Windsor side of the boundary line
between this town and Bloomfield had been cared for in the
EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS 159
Bloomfield schools. But about 1915 a considerable number
of new houses for the accommodation of workmen on the
tobacco plantation were built in Windsor and in the spring
of 1916 Mr. Fred B. Griffin offered to give land for school
grounds on condition that the town should erect a schoolhouse.
The offer was accepted and a one-room schoolhouse was
erected in time for use in the fall of 1916. This building was
so overcrowded that in 1919 a portable one-room building was
set up beside it for the accommodation of the lower grades.
In 1933 the town began transporting the upper grades to the
John M. Niles School and the building erected in 1916 is now
used for the lower grades.
The Twelfth District School
Before 1918 pupils from the Hazlewood section of the
town had been transported to Rainbow and Poquonock. An
increase in numbers caused the town to purchase a portable
building in 1918 which was set up on land donated for the
purpose from the local plantation of the American Sumatra
Tobacco Corporation. This building now houses the lower
grades while the older pupils are transported to Rainbow and
Poquonock.
The Second School Society
May 6, 1799: The following orders were paid to teachers
for the winter term of 1798-99 :
To Abiel B. Griswold, teacher in the North District, $31.50
To Israel Stoughton, teacher in the South District, $26.00
September 10, 1799 : To John Griswold, teacher in the
Middle District, $63.00
October 25, 1799 : Paid Benjamin Moore for "Boarding
the School Mam in the South District," $13.34
October 6, 1856 : The Second School Society made its final
report on the management of schools to a town meeting. The
schools were taken over by the town and since that date the
main duty of the Society has been the care of the Elm Grove
Cemetery.
October, 1862 : It was voted in town meeting "that the
South School District in Poquonock be changed to School Dis-
160 OLD WINDSOR
trict Number 7, that the district called the South Middle in the
Second Society be changed to School District Number 8, that
the school district in the Second Society called the North
Middle be changed to School District Number 9, that the school
district in the Second Society called the North or Rainbow
District be changed to District Number 10."
Among the notes on the schools of earlier generations are
several that reveal the financial cost of school maintenance.
For purposes of comparison we include a modern school
budget :
ESTIMATE OF WINDSOR'S PUBLIC SCHOOL
EXPENSES FOR 1935-36
Clerical Expenses,
$2,300
Enumeration of Children,
150
Teachers,
109,500
Textbooks,
3,800
Supplies,
3,500
Janitors and Building Supervisor,
11,724
Fuel,
5,500
Water and Lights,
2,400
Repairs and Extensions,
4,476
Insurance,
3,775
Equipment,
3,000
Library,
400
Transportation,
8,400
Express and Cartage,
25
Miscellaneous,
2,000
Night School,
300
Superintendent's Disbursements,
400
Telephone,
350
Total, $162,000
EDUCATIONAL PROGRDSiS
161
The Schools of Today
The illustrations that follow show the main schoolhouses
of Windsor as they appear today. Under the names of the
schools appear the names of the teachers for the current school
year. The first illustration shows the boundaries of the present
supervision districts.
Town of V/indsor
School Department Mop
SUPEKDIVISION DISTRICTS ADOiPTED IN 1929
162
OLD WINDSOR
THE JOiHN FITCIH HIGH SCHOOL
High School — Wiilliam Hoyt, Princiipal; Mary M. Wilson, Lena E.
Brown, John E. Powers, Katharine V. Fleming, Elsie M. Owen, Samuel
Crockett, Virginia Mills, Martha A. Downs, May L. Moore, Harold B.
Bender, M. Elizabeth Lee, Lillian A. Fischer, Caroline Keeler, Grace L.
Harrison, Esther Joy Wooley, Easter K. Thompson.
Manual Training — ^Clifford S. Sawyer.
Music — ^C. Louise Dickerman.
I School Nurse — Isahelle B. Goodale.
Superintendent of Schools — ^Earle S. Russell.
Superintendent Emeritus — Daniel Howard.
THE H. SIDNEY HAYDEN SCHOOL
John J. Rolfe, Principal; Marion L. Blake, Head Teacher; Alice A.
Winch, Mary C. Hart, Gertrude H. Mersereau, Helen O. Barr,
Eileen C. Madigan
E'DUCATIONAiL PROGRESS
163
THE ROGER WOLCOTT SCHOOL
Ervin S. Farrington, Principal; Calla R. Newberry, Head Teacher;
Elsie M. Welch, Mary A. Greenan, Leona E. Bunnell, Alice E. Brady, Mary
A. Regan, Marietta L. Clark, Elizabeth H. Cook, Christina Balletti, Julia
Christensen, Hilda E. Rego, Katherine B. Smith, Frances S. Drury, Mae
Biggerstaff, A. Alma Genest.
THE STONY HILL SCHOOL
Edith B. Kelso
164
OLD WINDSOR
THE DE'ElRFIELiD SCHOOL
Linda M. Balletti, Head Teacher; Arvilla R. Sachsenhauser, Gladys A.
Wood, Helen E. Barry, Florence E. Carl, Murtle E. Chase.
THE ROGER LUDLOW SCHOOL
Inez C. Searle, Head Teachei'; Adeline P. Brown, Gladys M. Huckins,
Doris E. Holcomb, Mai'ie H.Drescher, Grace Pienovi, Margaret E. Wolcott,
Mary M. Folliette, Maibel F. Holt, Alice M. Brown
E]DUCATIONAL PROGRESS
165
THE BEiLL SCHOOL
Anna M. Whitehouse
THE HAYDEN SCHOOL
Mary V. Frohlinger, Kathryn M. Frohlinger
166
OLD WINDSOR
THE THRALL SCHOOL
Inez M. Remington
THE ELM GROVE SCHOOL
Wilhelmdna R. Holmes
EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS
167
THE JOHN M. NILES SCHOOL
William M. Farris, PrdneJpal; Catherine K. Welsh, Head Teacher;
Frances Donovan, Sylvia Irene Raymore, Catherine L. Maher,
Margaret E. Eyre, May L. Longtine
THE RAINBOW SCHOOL
Emily L. Goodhue, Bertha H. Rogers
168
OLD WINDSOR
THE GRIFFIN SCHOOL
Edith Remshack
THE HAZLEWOOD SCHOOL
Elizabeth 0. Masta
EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS 169
Private Schools
The J. B. Woodford School
In colonial days the records show that the well-to-do
among- the citizens of that period often engaged private
teachers who taught pupils in their homes, but no record has
been found of definitely established private schools earlier than
about the middle of the nineteenth century, when John B.
Woodford established a boarding school in the Taylor Chapman
house on Palisado Avenue. This school soon moved to the
Sill House east of Palisado Green, where the dormitory rooms
then in use still serve as a reminder of "school days." The
school was in operation in 1856 and probably a little later, but
the exact date of its closing has not been found.
The Locmis Institute
This internationally known educational institution had its
inception in the combined philanthropy of four brothers and
a sister, James C. Loomis, Hezekiah B. Loomis, Osbert B.
Loomis, John Mason Loomis, and Abby S. Loomis Hayden,
v^^ife of Judge H. Sidney Hayden, descendants of Joseph
Loomis, one of the early Windsor pioneers, who settled on the
"Island" about 1640.
In 1872, having survived all their children, they resolved
to leave their combined estates to educate the children of
others and to establish a worthy memorial for themselves and
the family name. Two years later their benevolent intentions
found expression in a legislative "Act to Incorporate the
Loomis Institute in the Town of Windsor." The act granting
the charter was approved July 8, 1874, and amended by a
later act approved July 28, 1905. To support the institution
established by this charter the brothers and sister united in
an agreement to endow it with their fortunes and made their
wills with this object in view.
Upon the death of John Mason Loomis, the last survivor
of the group, and his wife, Mary H, Loomis, the endowment,
amounting to two million dollars, later to be augmented by
three hundred thousand dollars from the will of William H.
Loomis and two hundred thousand dollars from miscellaneous
gifts, became available for use and the trustees, appointed
170 OLD WINDSOR
under the provisions of the charter, at once began active prep-
arations for the building and opening of a school on the
ancestral estate near the original home of Joseph Loomis^
which is still standing and occupied by Miss Jennie Loomis.
FOUNDERS HALL
The Main School Building at Loomis
EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS 171
An experienced and successful educator was sought for
the responsible position of Headmaster. Nathaniel Horton
Batchelder, who had received both the bachelor's and the
master's degree from Harvard, engaged in literary work, and
taught at Hackley and Hotchkiss, was chosen. Entering upon
his duties in 1912, he worked with the trustees and their
architect in planning the buildings and formulating the
courses of study and was ready to open the school in
September, 1914.
At first the small number of girls applying for admission
were taught on the "Island" in the same buildings that served
the boys' department. Later, after an amendment to the
charter permitted the establishment of a separate department
off the "Island," the girls were housed for a few years in a
building owned by the Institute on Poquonock Avenue. In
1926, the Institute having acquired the historic Sill, and
Chaffee houses and other property facing the Palisado Green,
the girls' department was named the Chaffee School in honor
of Abigail Sherwood Chaffee, mother of the founders of the
Institute, and moved into new quarters in the newly acquired
property.
Today, while the two schools have separate quarters and,
for the most part, separate faculties, Mr. Batchelder is Head-
m-aster of both the Loomis School for Boys and the Chaffee
School for Girls . Mrs. Jeanette T. Cloud acts as resident
director at Chaffee.
By the provisions of the charter and the wills of the
donors, in the matter of admission to both schools preference
is given first, to members of the Loomis family; secondly, to
residents of the Town of Windsor; thirdly, to residents of the
State of Connecticut; and lastly to others regardless of state
or nation.
Headmaster Batchelder and his able and efficient corps
of over thirty assistants have watched the Institute grow from
a small beginning to capacity membership, the present enroll-
ment being 385 students. Those in attendance at Chaffee and
the local boys of the Loomis School come as day students.
Others are provided for in the fine dormitories that border the
school campus. Tuition is free and the charges for room,
172 OLD WINDSOR
board, and books place the yearly cost of education here sev-
eral hundred dollars below what is usual in other high grade
preparatory schools.
Students are attracted from all parts of the United States
and many have come from foreign countries. Every year the
number of applicants far exceeds the number that can be
accommodated.
Loomis graduates take high scholarship ranks in the lead-
ing American Universities and at European Universities such
as Trinity College, Dublin, and Oxford. In athletics and
physical training the school's record is outstanding. The
combined schools offer courses in preparation for college,
business, and domestic science.
The Warham School
In September, 1928, a private school for children in the
primary and elementary grades was organized by Mrs.
Adelaide H. Hoyt at her home on Warham Street. She named
her school the Warham School. Later she extended the scope
of the curriculum to include all grades below the high school.
After Mrs. Hoyt's death in November, 1933, the school was
carried on at the same location until June, 1934. In the fol-
lowing September the school was taken over by Mrs. Katharine
Hibbard and removed to the former home of William H.
Harvey at the corner of Windsor Avenue and Hill Crest Road.
At the end of one year in the new quarters a new management
was announced with Mrs. Florence E. Sellers at the head.
Hayden Hall
In September, 1867, under the sponsorship and encour-
agement of H. Sidney Hayden a "Young Ladies' Institute"
was organized and established on Broad Street a short distance
south of Maple Avenue. Two cousins. Miss Julia S. Williams
and Miss Elizabeth Francis, then recently graduated from
Mount Holyoke College, were placed in charge of the school.
Miss Williams serving as principal. The school was successful
and became widely known as a boarding and day preparatory
and finishing school for young women. It continued under the
later name of Hayden Hall until June, 1902.
EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS
173
THE CAMPBELL SCHOOL FOR GIRLS
(A view of the Home and Dormitories)
Photo by Leelc
The following year the school property was taken over by
Marian Blake Campbell and Alfred Hills Campbell, who
organized and established a new school known as the Campbell
School for Girls. Under their management it continued until
1919. The home of the school is now known as the Campbell
Apartments. The school building proper which was remodeled
under the Campbell administration and contained the class-
rooms and gymnasium faces on Maple Avenue and is now the
Odd Fellows Hall.
Educators and Authors
Windsor's educators, clergy, and public and professional
men and women have acquitted themselves honorably and
creditably in the field of literary effort. Her roster of those
who have written for publication may not include as many
well-known names as can be furnished by a few of Connecti-
cut's favored literary centers, but the following should be
recorded as among the town's native and adopted sons and
174 OLD WINDSOR
daughters whose publications have received more than local
recognition.
Roger Ludlow, born in England, educated at Oxford Uni-
versity, came to Windsor in 1635 and served as the first presi-
dent of the General Court thus becoming the first "de facto"
governor of the colony though never receiving the title of
governor. He drafted the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
and wrote the Code of 1650 which became the foundation of
the written laws of the State
John Warner Barber was born February 2, 1798. He
became Windsor's most noted historian. His works include
Historical Scenes in the United States, History and Antiquities
of New Haven, Historical Collections of Connecticut, Elements
of General History, European Historical Collections and many
other books of great popularity and value.
Oliver Ellsworth was one of our greatest writers on
jurisprudence. See sketch in the chapter on Men of Note.
John M. Niles born at Elm Grove August 20, 1787, estab-
lished the Hartford Times and led in the fight for a written
constitution which was secured in 1818. See the chapter on
Men of Note.
Edward Rowland Sill was Windsor's most distinguished
poet. A sketch of his career will be found in the chapter on
Men of Note.
Mrs. Christine Ladd Franklin was born in Windsor,
December 1, 1847, graduated from Vassar in 1869, and for
several years was a contributor to the Educational Times of
England. In 1878 she was granted a fellowship at Johns
Hopkins University where she studied for three years tha
the University was a men's institution. While there she was
a contributor to the American Journal of Mathematics. She
now became known as an investigator in the field of logic and
color vision and wrote the Algebra of Logic. Later she con-
tinued her studies at Gottingen and Berlin,
in 1910 she became a lecturer on logic and psychology
at Columbia University.
In 1924 she was chosen an assistant in the preparation
for publication of Helmholtz's work on Physiological Optics.
EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS
175
CHRISITINE LADD FRIANKLIN
Vassar granted her the degree of LL.D. in 1887 and Johns
Hopkins made her a Doctor of Philosophy in 1926.
In 1928 her collected papers on color theories were pre-
pared for publication in the International Library of Philos-
ophy, Psychology, and Scientific Method.
Jabez Haskell Hayden was born in Windsor December
20, 1811. From 1838 to 1881 he was a manufacturer of sew-
ing silk at Windsor Locks where he resided until his death
December 1, 1902. After his retirement from business he
devoted himself to genealogical and historical research and
writing and became Windsor's leading authority on local his-
tory. He contributed largely to Stiles' Ancient Windsor and
was the author of a volume of Historical Sketches and many
occasional essays and papers.
Daniel Howard was born in Foster, R. I., December 15,
1864, graduated from Brown University in 1893 and took
post graduate courses in History, Sociology, and Economics.
He served as High School principal at Wallingford and at
1176 OLD WINDSOR
Windsor Locks, Conn., became Superintendent of Schools and
came to Windsor in 1910 and remained in charge of the town
schools until 1934 when he retired as Superintendent Emeritus.
Besides contributing to papers and magazines he has written
a genealogy of Isaac Howard and his descendants, the United
States its History, Government, and Institutions, History
Stories of Connecticut, Howard and Brown's United States
(in conjunction with S. J. Brown), Glimpses of Ancient
Windsor and a New History of Old Windsor.
Harry C. Barber was born in Windsor May 23, 1881. He
graduated from the Windsor High School in 1897, spent a
year in the Connecticut Literary Institute, and graduated
from Amherst College in 1902. He then taught mathematics
in Nebraska, in the Connecticut Literary Institute at Suffield,
Conn., in the Fitchburg, Mass. High School, at Phillips Exeter
Academy, and is now in the mathematics department of the
English High School in Boston, Mass. He has served as the
President of the National Council of Mathematics Teachers
and is the author of many books including Teaching Junior
High School Mathematics, Mathematics for the Seventh Grade,
Mathematics for the Eighth Grade, Every Day Algebra, and a-
Second Course in Algebra.
Mrs. Mary Hazelton Wade was born in Charlestown;
Mass., March 23, 1860. She was for a time a teacher and in
1901 became a writer of children's books for schools and
libraries. Her books include the Little Cousin Series and many
books dealing with child life, history, and biography. She has
resided in Windsor since 1923.
Mrs. Doris Campbell Holsworth was born at Plymouth,-.
New Hampshire, in 1897. She came to Windsor with her
parents who organized the Campbell School for Girls in 1903
and except for a short residence in Massachusetts has resided
here since that time. She graduated from Mount Holyoke
College in 1919 and studied dramatic art and technique at
Emerson School of Oratory and at Radcliffe College. Later
she took a course in pageantry at Yale University. Her
literary productions consist largely of plays for children and
historical pageants including the pageant of Windsor's Church
Tercentenary in 1930, Wethersfield's Tercentenary in 1934,
Saybrook's Tercentenary and others in 1935.
EDUCATIONAL PROGRESiS 177
The Windsor Public Library
The histories of public libraries in Windsor goes back
at least one hundred thirty-five years. On the well kept
records of the Union Library we find the first entry dated
December 8, 1800, which suggests its connection with the
Union Academy that had opened its doors earlier in the same
year.
The first entry reports a meeting of the proprietors of the
library. Roger Newberry was chosen moderator, Christopher
Wolcott, clerk, and Elisha Moore, treasurer. George Warner,
Jerijah Warner, Elihu Drake, and Elisha Strong were elected a
library committee. Elihu B. Stanton was made librarian and
a tax of fifty cents was assessed upon each proprietor.
The expenses of the enterprise were modest during its
early days. We find annual taxes of fifty, sixty, or seventy-
five cents a year assessed on each share held by the proprietors
in order to replenish the treasury and in 1804 we find that the
librarian was voted a salary of Five Dollars per year.
After operating with apparent success until after 1840
the library found the legality and validity of its articles of
association called in question. A committee appointed to in-
vestigate the situation reported that the articles "were of no
eflfect."
In 1841 the association voted to divide the books among
its members. This vote was later rescinded. On January 14,
1845, a meeting was called to consider a proposal to sell the
books. The minutes of the meeting record that "there was a
warm discussion." Many of the proprietors opposed selling
the books. The clerk recorded, "there was much scolding, no
business done, no lives lost & no bones broken."
In November, 1846, the proprietors voted to sell the books
at auction to the members of the company. A month later
they voted to draw up a new constitution, to secure a suitable
room "for the use of the librarian, and appointed George
Howard to act as librarian until one is duly chosen." There
the record ends.
Another library existed at Poquonock, but no detailed
records have been found. Some cases of its books were in the
town hall not many years ago.
,178 OLD WINDSOR
The present public library had its beginning in 1888. The
Iprime movers in its establishment were Miss Martha S. Clapp
:and Mr. H. E. Sawyer, then principal of the Public High School.
One hundred fifty persons joined with them and subscribed
One Dollar each to start a library. The first meeting of the
subscribers was held February 27, 1888, in the high school
room, where "The Windsor Library A,ssociation" was organ-
ized and a committee of five was chosen to manage its affairs.
This committee consisted of Mrs. Sarah A. Tuttle, Mrs. Walter
W. Loomis, Mr. H. E. Sawyer, Mr. Nathaniel W. Hayden,
Secretary, and the Rev. Frederick W. Harriman, Chairman.
In the following April the library opened its doors to the
public. Its first quarters were in the oflftce of the Judge of
Probate in the Windsor Center Town Hall, where Judge H.
Sidney Hayden had previously provided shelves with glass
doors for the protection of books, and the encouragement of a
reading room. Here the library remained until 1895, when it
was moved to the Academy building on the northeast corner
of Broad Street Green. Until 1901 it was maintained in the
former home of the Academy by the united efforts of the local
•churches. In this year the Associtaion was able to purchase
the old homestead of the late General Frederick Ellsworth
Mather, which was built at the southwest corner of the Broad
Street Green by Col. Oliver Mather about the year 1777. The
books were soon moved into their new home, where the library
has since remained.
It may be interesting to note how the association was able
to purchase this home and the land that went with it for the
sum of Forty-five Hundred Dollars. The purchase was made
possible thru the generous gifts of publijc spirited friends.
Miss Olivia S. Pierson donated $4000; Miss Eliza W. Hills,
$1000. Other benefactors followed. Mr. Stephen Hills be-
queathed $1000; the Tuttle, Crompton, and Russell families
added $925 ; Mrs. Euphemia A. Loomis of New York gave $300 ;
Col. Oliver R. Holcombe gave $250; Mr. William H. Harvey,
$100; Mrs. Sarah H. Paret, $100; Mr. William Sill, $100; Mr.
Charles W. Cook, $25; Miss Frances Bissell, $5; from enter-
tainments and friends, $344 ; by the will of Mrs. Mary M.
E'DUCATIONAjL progress 179
Holcombe a bequest of $5000 to erect a building or make
additions to existing buildings. Thus the Association has been
able to furnish a home for the town's library and maintain it
without cost to the town for rent or repairs.
The Association was incorporated in 1901. It is "author-
ized and empowered to purchase, receive, hold, and convey all
kinds of property, both real and personal ... for the
purpose of establishing a public library in . , . Windsor;
and all property of said corporation, including any funds or
estates heretofore or hereafter donated to it for the purposes
of said library, to an amount not exceeding one hundred
thousand dollars, shall be exempt from taxation."
"The town of Windsor may fix, by a by-law, an amount
which shall be appropriated and paid annually by said towh
thereafter for the maintenance and increase of the library of
said corporation, which library, during the whole of the time
such payments are made, shall be free to the inhabitants of said
town. If said town shall make an annual appropriation for
this purpose, then the town may elect two persons each year
for a term of three years (six in all) who, with a committee of
the corporation, shall constitute a joint committee for conduct-
ing the library and reading room."
The association consists of twenty-five members. When
vacancies occur they are filled by the remaining members.
"The Book Committee shall consist of six directors who
shall with the six directors elected by the town constitute a
joint committee who shall have general oversight of the library
and reading room, including the appointment of the librarians
for the various branches and the selection of books to be
purchased from the town grant and the state appropriations."
The state contributes annually One Hundred Dollars for
the support of the library which is used for the purchase of
books. The town appropriations have varied with the needs
of the library. The appropriation for the current y'ear is Three
Thousand Two Hundred Fifty Dollars.
In 1893 the librarian's report showed 50 subscribers and
905 books in the library. In 1895 Miss Grace M. Blake, libra-
180 OLD WINDSOR
rian, reported "The library has been moved from the town
hall to the old schoolhouse and changed from a subscription
to a free library." From 50 subscribers the number of patrons
had increased to 281.
At Poquonock a branch library was opened in the John M.
Niles School by the late Mrs. Emma K. Hatheway. After her
death this library was named in her honor the Emma K. Hath-
eway Branch Library. It w^as moved, first to a small building
on the east side of the street near the Poquonock Bridge and
later to a room in the Poquonock Town Hall. The present
librarian is Mrs. Enuice Greenwood Cairns. In 1927 the Wil-
son Branch Library was opened in the basement of the Roger
Wolcott School. The librarian is Mrs. Pearl Young. The Hay-
den Branch Library was established in 1929 in the chapel of
the Congregational Church at Hayden, the rent being donated
by the Congregational Society. Miss Eleanor Norris is the
librarian. Previous to this time books from the main library
had been distributed voluntarily at Hayden by public spirited
ladies of the community.
For purposes of comparison wdth the report already given
for 1893 the following statistics are taken from the librarian's
report for 1934.
The number of members :
Main Library 1,700
Emma K. Hatheway Branch 362
Wilson Branch 523
Hayden Branch 133
Total 2,718
Circulation :
Main Library 40,945
Emma K. Hatheway Branch 11,618
Wilson Branch 12,317
Hayden Branch 6,862
Total 71,742
New books added during the year 722
The total number of books is approximately 11,000
EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS
181
The list of librarians from 1800 to 1935 includes the fol-
lowing names of persons who entered upon their duties on the
dates given: Elihu B. Stanton, 1800; William Loomis, 1808;
David Filley, 1821 ; Allyn M. Mather, 1832 ; Martha M. Drake,
1840 ; Horace H. Sill, 1844 ; George Howard, 1846. Period of no
records. Under the reorganization : Miss Annie G. Albee, 1888 ;
Miss Grace M. Blake, 1894 ; Miss Gladys Arnurius, 1904 ; Miss
Kate P. Safford, 1909; Miss Georgia Cranston, 1931.
The Rev. Roscoe Nelson is President of the Association,
Miss Agnes G. McCormick, Secretary, and Alfred W. Olds,
Treasurer. The directors are: Miss Jennie Loomis, Mrs. Eus-
tace Allen, Miss Emma L. Morgan, Mrs. Alvin L. Hubbard, Miss
Kate P. Safford, and Daniel Howard representing the Associa-
tion ; Mrs. George N. Burnham, Mrs. Edward J. Kernan, Mrs.
Clayton P. Chamberlin, Mrs. Waldo C. Everett, and Harold T.
Nearing, elected by the town.
THE NEAEING TKiOPHY
This cup was donated by Harold T. Nearing as a trophy for the
champion baseball team of the Windsor Grammar Schools. It was won
permanently by the H. Sidney Hayden School in 1932,
182
OLD WINDSOR
WINDSOR'S OLDEST HOME
The Entrance to the Home of the Windsor Historical Society
EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS 183
The Windsor Historical Society
This Society whose primary purpose is to collect and
preserve the evidence on which depends our knowledge of the
life and history of Windsor, was organized in 1921. Its organi-
zation was very largely due to the enthusiasm and untiring
efforts of one man, its first President, George E. Crosby, Jr.,
who is fully and justly entitled to be called the Father of the
Windsor Historical Society. No better introduction to the
history of the organization can be written than what is con-
tained in his first annual report together with some extracts
from the Constitution and By-Laws of the Society and part of
the first Secretary's report. Therefore we reproduce these
extracts from the Annual Report of the Society published in
1922.
CiONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS
Article L — The Name and Object
1. The name of the organization is The Windsor Histori-
cal Society of Windsor, Conn.
2. The objects are: —
a. The collection and preservation of records, facts
and materials relating to the history and to the citizens of
i Windsor.
b. The identification, preservation and marking of
buildings and locations of historic interest.
c. The recording of current history for the benefit of
future generations.
d. The publication of documents and pamphlets re-
lating to Windsor.
e. The preparation for the observance of the Tercen-
tenary of Windsor in 1933.
Article II. — Membership
1. The Society shall consist of Honorary, Active, Sustain-
ing and Life members who shall be entitled to vote at any meet-
ing of the Society.
2. Any person who may have rendered important ser-
vice to the Town of Windsor, the State of Connecticut, the
cause of historic inquiry, or of literature generally may be
elected an Honorary member of this Society.
184 OLD WINDSOR
3. Every application for membership shall be in writing,
signed by the applicant, supported bj^ at least one member of
this Society and shall be accompanied by a fee equal to one
year's dues for the class of membership desired. All applica-
tions for membership shall be read at a regular meeting,
referred to the Executive Committee and may be balloted on
at any regular meeting. Election shall be by the affirmative
votes of two-thirds of the members present.
4. Annual dues will become payable on Sept. 26. Active
members shall pay |2.00; Sustaining members, $5.00.
5. The payment of annual dues shall constitute a condi-
tion of membership ; by neglect to pay the same for a period
of six months after September 26, the right to vote at meetings
of the Society shall be forfeited until such dues shall be paid.
6. Upon continued non-payment of dues for one year the
delinquent names shall be reported to the Executive Commit-
tee and upon recommendation may be dropped from the roll.
7. Active or Sustaining members not in debt to the Society
may become Life members on payment of $20 at one time.
Sustaining members shall be entitled to all publications of the
Society free of charge.
PRESIDENT'S REiPORT
In response to a newspaper announcement a small group
met in the Windsor Town Hall on the evening of September 1,
1921, and formed a temporary organization with the writer as
President and Mr. George R. Maude as Treasurer. The meeting
adjourned to September 26th (the anniversary date 0. S. of
the arrival of the Plymouth settlers in 1633) and on that date
a permanent organization was effected and the Charter Roll
opened for signatures, the first name signed being that of Miss
Frances Bissell. Our membership has grown rapidly since to
a total of 276 and our progress and prosperity has exceeded
greatly the anticipations of anyone.
We have had many gifts of books, manuscripts, auto-
graphs, documents, relics and curios, notably from George E.
Iloadley of Hartford, a descendant of Owen Tudor of Windsor.
His gifts form a special group to which we have given his name.
EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS 185
The first gift to our collection was from Mr. Thomas Brabazon
of Hartford. We have made some purchases of rare genealog-
ical or historical books and documents relating to Windsor and
now have a really large and valuable collection which we en-
deavor to keep safely protected until such time as we may have
a proper building to house it. Members may bear in mind that
our genealogical books and records are available for use upon
applicaticin to the Recorder. We will welcome gifts of this
nature especially.
A committee consisting of Mrs. Editha L. G. Burr and
Miss Frances Bissell are keeping a day-by-day newspaper clip-
ping record of Windsor news which will be bound annually and
provide material for future historians of our town.
We have last highly esteemed friends by death, notably
Hon. Lewis Sperry, one of our first Life members, who had
shortly before presented us, in memory of his sister, Ruth T.
Sperry, a beautifully bound set of Stiles' History of Windsor.
We have placed sign-boards at the Harftord and Windsor
Locks highway entrances to Windsor and temporary markers
of the sites of Mathew Grant's home, the old Warham Mill, the
first church in Poquonock, etc. It is hoped to replace these with
permanent markers in time.
We have had the nucleus of a fund for a Cojmmunity House
for Windsor placed in our custody through the activities and
enterprise of the Windsor Council of Young People's Societies
and the Junior Chautauqua, and have had an anonymous gift
of two $100 bonds presented specifically as the nudeus of a
fund for the proper housing of the Society's collection. This
proviso necessitated the distinction of separate funds, a fact
that will not interfere with specific growth and use of either.
It is to be hoped that by use of surplus funds or specific gifts
we may establish during the cpiming year the fund for observ-
ance of Windsor's Tercentenary in 1933.
It has become important that we should seek a charter as
a corporation of the incoming General Assembly.
We have had many interesting papers read at our meet-
ings, some of which we hope to publish in due time. We have
issued as No. 1 of the Society's publications, copies of an inter-
18G
OLD WINDSOR
esting print of the "Old Hunting Tree" given us by Ruth Alden
Curtis, a member.
In closing I wish to thank the Officers and Members and
other friends for their support and encouragement, which I
trust will be satisfactorily rewarded by the remarkable gro'wth
and progress of our Society.
GEORGE E. CROSBY, JR., President.
Photo by W. F. Miller & Co.
GEORGE EiLLERY CROSBY, JR.
This portrait of the first President of the Society hangs in the
Fyler House, heme of the Windsor Historical Society. It was painted by
Harold A. Green, a personal friend of Mr. Crosby.
EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS 187
SBCRETAiRY'S REPORT
At the invitation of GeQrge E. Crosby, Jr., extended
through the newspapers to all who might be interested, seven-
teen persons met at the Windsor Town hall, on the evening of
September 1st for the purpose of formaing a society for col-
lecting manuscripts, documents, books, curios and relics;
marking, preserving, and protecting places of historic interest
relating to Windsor, and f, cir the preparation of plans and funds
for the Town's Tercentenary in 1933.
A temporary organization was formed with George E.
Crosby, Jr., President and Geotrge R. Maude, Treasurer, under
the name of The Windsor Historical Society. A committee of
five members, Reverend L. Robert Sheffield, Mrs. Alexis D.
Kendrick, Daniel Howard, Frederick L, Parker and John C.
Coinklin was appointed to bring recommendations for a con-
stitution and by-laws to the next meeting, which it was voted
should be held on September 26th, (this being the anniversary
date Old Style, of the first settlement in Windsor in 1633,) in
the Town Hall.
At this meeting the temporary organization was made
permanent under the name of The Windsor Historical Society
of Windsor, Connecticut, and the folloiwing were elected:
George E. Crosby, Jr., President; L. Robert Sheffield, Vice-
President; George R. Maude, Treasurer; Mrs. Ella Ellsworth
Oakes, Secretary; and Frances Bissell and Mrs. Alexis D.
Kendrick, members of Executive Cojmmittee.
During the year there have been six regular meetings.
There have been three so-called pilgrimages, the first trip to
lotcate the landing places of the original Bissell Ferry and the
roads leading to them, followed by a ride across the Connecticut
River at the present Bissell's Ferry on the ferry-boat "John
Bissell." Across the river in East Windsor an enjoyable visit
was made tpl the old Bissell House where we were delightfully
welcomed and entertained by Mr. and Mrs. William Baker.
On January 14, 1922, many members attended an exhibit
of special interest to Windsor, to which our Society was invited
by State Librarian George S. Godard, an Honorary Member of
188 OLD WINDSOR
this Society. Mr. Godard addressed us most interestingly and
the program provided was greatly enjoyed by everyone present.
On July 22d, 1922, a trip was made to Rainbow Park,
Rainbow, delegations from the Simsbury Historical Society and
the Winchester Historical Society attending as our guests.
Professor Warren K. Mp?orehead, Curator of Archselogy at
Phillips Academy, and an honorary member of our Society,
gave an informal talk on the progress of his pre-historic Indian
research work in Connecticut. A number visited the site of
the old iron smelter on the river bank oppcisite the Park. This
was in operation as early as 1700, presumably to smelt ore from
Tilton's Swamp near Simsbury.
Our Sdciety was invited by the Winchester Historical So-
ciety of Winsted, Conn., to meet at their headquarters, with the
Simsbury Historijcal Society on September 8, 1922, and a good
delegation attended and enjoyed greatly the hospitality and
entertainment provided.
During the year we have heard many interesting and valu-
able addresses. At our first regular meeting, Mr. Willard C.
Gompf read a paper on "Old Windsor" representing mudh
patient and original research work. At our sec,ond meeting
Miss C. Louise Dickerman, Supervisor of Music of the Windsor
Public Schools, read a delightful paper oin "Singers and Singing
in Former Days," six boys and six girls in Colonial costume
illustrating the methpfiis and tunes as the speaker referred to
them. At our third meeting Professor Moorehead addressed
us on the general subject of his discoveries and studies of
Indian remains in New England. His story was splendidly told
and illustrated by excellent screen views.
At our fourth meeting Mr. Charles R. Hale of Hartfoird,
gave a valuable account of "The Soldiers Buried in the Cem-
eteries of Windsor." He exhibited and later presented to the
Society maps of all Windscxr cemeteries showing the location
of soldiers' graves. At this meeting Mr. David J. Ellsworth
of Windsor gave most interestingly his reminiscences of the
people and homes oif Palisado Avenue, Windsor, during his 82
years of his residence there.
EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS
189
At our fifth meeting Colonel Francis Parsons of Hartford
read a most enjoyable paper o*n "The Hartford Wits — Their
Ambitions and Their Friendships." Following his paper Mr.
David J. Ellsworth read a supplementary paper on his rem-
iniscences of Palisado Avenue dwellings and their occupants.
On February 24th and 25th, 1922, a pageant by Miss Leila
Church of Rojckville, and called "The Magic Carpet" was given
by the Windsor Community Council of Young People's Societies
the profits of which were given to this Society as the nucleus of
a Fund to be known as The Windsor Historical Society Com-
munity House Fund. ASi anonymous gift of two |100 bonds
was also given to establish The Windsor Historical Society
Building Fund.
EiLLA ELLSWORTH OAKES, Secretary.
September 26, 1922.
During the second year of its existence the Soqiiety re-
ceived a bequest of $5,000 by the will df George E. Hoadley of
Hartford and in compliance with a request contained in that
will became an Incorporated Society.
Following the death of two friends cif the Society, Mr. and
Mrs. Frank H. Denslow, the Society came into possession of
their home in 1925 and made it the official headquarters. This
home on Palisado Avenue was built by Sergeant Walter Fyler
as early as 1640 and is the oldest dwelling house in Windsor.
THE LIEIUTEINANT WALTEiR FYLER HOUSE
190 OLD WINDSOR
The house passed by will to John Fyler, son of the builder, from
whom it passed to Thomas Fyler and was afterwards owned in
turn by Alexander Allin, Captain Nathaniel Howard, Miss Lu-
cretia Stiles and her sisters, Mrs. William S. Pierson, and Miss
Olive Pierson, who made it a wedding present to Frank H.
Denslow, from whose estate it was purichased by the Society
May 1, 1925.
With the cdntributions made at this time by generous
friends of the Society there was established a "Fund for the
Purchase, Restojration, and Endowment of the Lieutenant Wal-
ter Fyler Homestead and the administration of the Fund" was
entrusted to a special committee of the Society, For a time
the home was operated as the "Betsy Kob Tea Robm" with
Miss Elizabeth Kob and Miss Josephine Hughes serving as
hostesses.
In November, 1928, Mr. and Mrs. Alphonse G. Dugan, Jr.,
became the tenants of the Society and have since that date
occupied the Fyler Homestead and received the many guests
that visit it in the course of every year. Besides the house
itself the many relics of early days that have found a shelter
there prove attractive to visitors. In one corner of the house
is the little room that served as the first post office in Windsor.
THE BEAM ROOM! IN THE FYLER HOME
EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS 1»1
On October 12, 1928, the members of the Society as well
as the whole community were saddened by the death of Presi-
dent Crosby. His work, however, was taken up and carried on
with vigor by the Vice-president, Mr. Charles H. Willcox.
On January 21, 1930, Mr. Willcox was elected the secotid
President of the Society and held office until the annual election
of officers on September 26, 1930, when failing health and the
burdens of preparation for the Tercentenary Celebration
planned for 1933, led him to decl'ne a reelection and Daniel
Howard was elected President and served until the completion
of the Tercentenary program on September 26, 1933, when
Philip F. Ellsworth was elected the third President, who is noiw
serving his se(2ond term.
Many valuable gifts have been made to the Society, notable
among them being the Hoadley bequest already mentioned and
the bequest of One Thousand D.oiUars (awaiting administration
proceedings) by the will of Philip G. Gorton of Hartford, a
descendant of the early Griswolds, a family prominent in the
history of the town and the state.
From the estate of Mr. Wells F. Holcomb of Elm Grove
the Society received a valuable collection of Indian relics and
other articles df historic value. A long list of other gifts have
come from a host of friends and many books and documents
have been acquired by purchase. To store all these and others
known to be available as soon as a suitable fireproof house can
be provided for their protection, the Society has for several
years had plans for an historical museum and depository ojf
records and documents. The erection of the building awaits
an increase in funds to make this ambition a reality.
The roll olf membership for 1935 has the names of 254
active, sustaining, and honorary members.
The following is the list of officers for the year beginning
September 26, 1934: President, Philip F. Ellsworth; Vice-
President, Leslie H. Hayes; Secretary, Ruth D. Tuttle; Treas-
urer, Leland P. Wilson ; Recorder, A. G. Dugan, Jr. ; Assistant
ilecorder, William S. Leek; Executive Committee, the Officers
and Daniel Howard, Miss Alice Morgan, Clayton P. Cham-
192
OLD WINDSOR
berlin ; Fyler House and Grounds Committee, Chairman, Mrs.
J. H. Smiley; Program Committee, Chairman, Mrs. Alvin L.
Hubbard ; Permanent Building Committee, Chairman, Clayton
P. Chamberlin; Membership Committee, Chairman, Miss Mar-
guerite Mills, Statical 11, Windsor, Conn.
THE OLD "CORN MILL"— Continually in use since 1640
This old mill shares with the historic Fyler House the distinction
of being already built and mentioned on the town records in 1640 at the
time home-lots and other tracts of land were distributed to the original-
settlers.
Churches
The First Church of Windsor
The First Church of Windsor has the distinction of being
the oldest Congregational Church in America. It was organ-
ized in Plymouth, England, on March 20, 1630, just before
its members sailed for Massachusetts on the good ship Mary
and John. In the years 1635 and 1636 a majority of the mem-
bers came with their pastor, John Warham, and settled near
the present Palisado Green in Windsor. Thus the Church is
older than the town and it celebrated its Tercentenary Anni-
versary in 1930.
The first meeting house was built in 1639. Its site is
marked by an appropriate monument erected in 1930 by the
Connecticut Branch of the Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims.
A second house of worship was built on the same site in 1685.
The third built in 1757 stood on the triangular green west of
the present Congregational Parish House at the head of Broad
Street.
While the third building was in use there was a division
of the church society caused in part at least by the removal
The Church budlt in 1794, and the Covered Bridge built in 1833
194
OLD WINDSOR
of the meeting- house from the north side of the Farmington
River. Those who preferred to attend Church on the north
side built their own meeting house on the west side of the road
about a mile and a quarter north of the old meeting house.
This house is now used as a dwelling and was for many years
until recently the home of Mr. Fred A. West.
In 1794 the two wings of the Church united and built the
present meeting house on the north bank of the Farmington
River. The house was reconstructed in 1844 practically as
it stands today.
The history of this Church is so closely interwoven with
the history of the town during the first two hundred years of
its existence that the reader will doubtless be interested in
a review that goes somewhat into details. Such a review,
giving much that is strictly church history and much also that
is town history, may be found in the admirable addresses given
on historic occasions by local historians and distinguished
students of the history of the Church and town. The essen-
tially historic portions of these addresses will be found repro-
duced in this book under the caption "Celebrations."
THP] FIRST CHURCH OF WINDSOR
From a photograph taken in 1933.
OHURCHBS 195
The Poquonock Congregational Church
On October 1, 1724, Poquonock was incorporated as a
separate parish and three years later the new society had
erected a meeting house on the west side of the road near
the home recently occupied by the late Wells F. Holcomb.
During a part of 1725 and 1726 the members of the society
had preaching services conducted by a clergyman whom they
expected to engage as a settled pastor but in 1726 they changed
their minds and dropped him. What other complaints they
had we do not know but one charge was that his sermons were
too short. In May, 1727, Cornelius Brown testified that he
had urged the minister "to apply himself to his work and
lengthen out his sermons, that if possible he might gain dis-
affected persons." The minister had replied that he was not
concerned about the length of his sermons. If they were only
"orthodox they were long enough for Poquonock."
The first settled pastor was the Rev. John Woodbridge,
who graduated from Yale in 1726, came to take charge of
the church in 1727, and remained until 1736.
For four years the church was without a regular minister.
In January, 1740, the Rev. Samuel Tudor, another Yale grad-
uate, whose birthplace was Windsor, became the second pastor
and remained with the church almost to the time of his death,
which occurred September 21, 1757, at South Windsor.
For fourteen years the church was without a pastor and
preaching was conducted only at long intervals by visiting
clergymen. Some members expressed a wish to unite with
the parish in Wintonbury, others recommended a return to
the parent church, while still others favored the dissolution
of the society.
However, on January 14, 1771, thirty-six citizens of
Poquonock pledged themselves to raise the sum of "Sixty
Pounds Lawful Money" per annum to support a minister.
Their effort to revive the church resulted in the engagement
of Mr. Dan Foster of Stafford as the third pastor of the
society, which in June, 1771, comprised twenty-four members.
Mr. Foster was ordained on May 12, 1771. His father,
the Rev. Isaac Foster of Stafford, preached the ordination
sermon.
196 OLD WINDSOR
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One brief document has been preserved, which helps us
form some conception of the hospitality of that historic occa-
sion. It was written two days after the ordination and reads :
May, 14th Day, 1771.
The Second Society of Windsor, Dr., to Thomas Griswold.
At ordination on ye 12th Day of May Instant —
To two gallons of wine at 7s pr gallon
To fifty-one meals of victuals at 9"^
To twelve mugs of flip at 9*^ pr mug
To keeping horses
To warning a Society Meeting in 1761
3 5 0 0
Thomas Griswold.
The society was in a generous mood and increased the
minister's, salary beyond the expected sixty pounds and
promised to pay him one hundred seventy-seven pounds and
two shillings to cover a period of two years.
The Rev. Dan Foster continued as pastor of the
Poquonock Church for twelve years. Till 1779 there appears
to have been no serious conflict between him and his congre-
gation and church officers, but in that year he complained that
he had not received what was due him in salary and support.
For about four years there were charges and counter charges,
councils of the associated churches to settle the controversy,
and discord and friction in the society. Finally on October 23,
1783, the Rev. Dan Foster was dismissed as pastor of the
Poquonock Church. Later he preached in Weathersfield, Ver-
mont, where he became a Universalist and was again dis-
missed. He next went to Charlestown, New Hampshire, where
he served as a supply preacher for several years.
The Church never secured another pastor tho it con-
tinued to hold services, which were conducted for the most
part by ministers from other Churches.
A second meeting house was built at a date which has not
been found on record, but which was between 1797 and 1801.
This house stood on the west side of Poquonock Avenue
OHURCHEIS
197
opposite the Elm Grove Cemetery. After a few years it
became a Universalist Church.
From 1835 to 1841 there was preaching by Congrega-
tional ministers in a hall at Rainbow. These services were
conducted for one year by the Rev. David Austin Sherman,
about four years by preachers from the Theological Institute
at East Windsor, and from the Spring of 1840 to the Spring of
Photo by Leek
THE POQUONOOK CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
1»8 OLD WINDSOR
1841 by the Rev. Mr. Hempstead of Hartford and the Rev.
John R. Adams, who also preached in the schoolhouse at
Poquonock.
On June 2, 1841, a new Church was organized with
thirty-nine members. Until 1854 the congregation worshiped
in Franklin Hall and at other places in Poquonock and Rain-
bow. In the Spring of 1854 the present Church edifice was
completed and dedicated.
Since 1841 the pastors have been:
1841 John R. Adams from June 2 until October 31
Chauncey Rice until February 13, 1842
1842 Cornelius B. Everest
1854 Thomas H. Rouse
1857 Henry J. Lamb
1859 Ogden Hall
1861 Charles H. Bessell
1865 Josiah Peabody
1868 Nathaniel G. Bonney
1873 William H. Phipps
1877 Silas Ketchum
1880 William H. Howard
1882 Charles H. Pettibone
1889 Nathan Tibbals Merwin
1898 William Carlos Prentiss
1902 Edward 0. Grisbrook
1907 William Carr
1922 Victor L. Greenwood
The present Church membership is 190. The Sunday
School averages about 65. The Ladies' Benevolent Society
contributes largely to the work of the Church and there is
an active young people's organization.
The Methodists in Windsor
In Windsor as elsewhere in Connecticut before the year
1818, Methodists were not welcomed by the Established Order.
Nevertheless Methodist preachers came to the town as early
as 1790 and their work has continued without interruption.
The little group that was organized in that year met mostly
in the homes of the members and sometimes in schoolhouses.
CHURCHES
199
and their first ministers served one or more other congrega-
tions in towns farther north and east, particularly in Ellington,
Stafford and Tolland. To escape taxation by the Established
Order they were obliged to sign a certificate like the following :
Windsor Dec^^- 4th 1817
I would certify according as the Law directs that I be-
long to the Methodist Society in Windsor.
Dyer Harris
On January 13, 1823, the Methodist Episcopal Church of
Windsor was organized at the home of Elisha Strong and on
September 5 following a site for a building was purchased.
This building lot was on the east side of Broad Street Green
north of Central Street. The Church edifice was soon com-
pleted and the new society was formally installed in its new
home.
Photo by Leek
THE EIRIST METHODIST EPISOOlPAL CHURCH
200
OLD WINDSOR
This building, which was twice remodeled, continued to
house the society until 1907, when it was sold to William H. H.
Mason and a new building was erected at the junction of
Poquonock and Bloomfield Avenues. This new Church was
partially destroyed by fire on Sunday, December 10, 1922,
but was rebuilt during the following winter and spring and
reopened for services on June 10, 1923.
In this rebuilt and renovated home the Trinity Methodist
Episcopal Church of Windsor — for so it had been renamed
in 1921 — celebrated the Tercentenary of its birth on Novem-
ber 1,, 2 and 4, 1923.
TKINITY METHODIST BPISOOIPAL CHURCH
Its ministers from 1790 to 1935 according to the Church
Historical Record have been :
1790 Nathaniel B. Mills
1791 Lemuel Smith
1792 George Roberts
1793 George Pickering
1794 Joshua Taylor
CHURCHES 201
1795 Lemuel Smith
1796 Joseph Morehouse
1797 Daniel Bromley
1798 Ezekiel Canfield
1799 Peter Jayne
1800 Billy Hibbard
1801 Timothy Dewey
1802 Ebenezer Washburn
1804 Joshua Crowell
1805 Eben Smith
1807 Nathan Emery
1808 Laban Clark
1809 Gershom Pearce
1811 Friend Draper
1812 Reuben Harris
1814 Cyrus Culver
1816 Billy Hibbard
1818 Cyrus Culver
1819 Coles Carpenter
1821 Andrew McCain
1822 Cyrus Culver
1823 Phinehas Cook
1825 Tobias Spicer
1826 David Miller
1827 Elbert Osborn
1829 Smith Dayton
1831 Edwin E. Griswold
1833 David Miller
1834 Nathaniel Kellogg
1836 Eli Denniston
1838 David Osborn
1839 Cephas Brainerd
1840 Ezra S. Cook
1842 Seth W. Scofield
1844 Joseph Henson
1846 George F. Kettell
1847 Samuel A. Seaman
1848 Samuel W. Law
1850 Rufus K. Reynolds
202 OLD WINDSOR
1851 Horatio N. Weed
1853 William H. Russell
1854 John W. Simpson
1856 William F. Smith
1858 Isaac Sanford
1860 Henry D. Latham
1861 Andrew K. Crawford
1862 Scofield C. Lamb
1864 Nathan W. Wilder
1865 William E. Smith
1867 John Russell Gushing
1868 Robert W. Jones
1871 George B. Dusinberre
1873 Isaac E. Smith
1874 John Gromlish
1876 William Wake
1878 Joseph O. Munson
1880 David Nash
1883 David G. Downey
1885 Reubin H. Loomis
1887 George A. Graves
1889 Edward L. Bray
1892 William H. Kidd
1894 M. O. Lepley
1896 A. C. Willey
1897 E. 0. Tree
1900 A. C. Eggleston
1901 J. F. Dunkerke
1903 Warren French Sheldon
1905 W. N. Fanton
1907 George B. Dusinberre
1910 George W. Roesch
1911 Halford E. Luccock
1913 John Lee Brooks
1914 Irving M. Anderson
1916 William B. Cornish
1918 John Lee Brooks
1919 Jesse D. Roberts
1921 Wilmot Perkins Lord
CHURCHES 203
1924 R. Stanley Povey
1926 Arch Tremayne
1928 Duncan F. Dodd
1933 Donald H. Dorchester
In the early years more than one minister participated in
the preaching. We have recorded for each year the one whom
we judged to be the leader.
The present membership of the Church is 292 ; the Sun-
day School enrolls 121; the Ladies' Aid Society numbers 52;
the Fireside Club composed of young married women has a
limited membership of 35; the Men's Club, which is a civic
forum and cultural assembly for the men of the community,
is well attended not only by Methodists but by members of
other Churches.
The Universalists
About the time of the dismissal of the Rev. Dan Foster
from the Congregational Church at Elm Grove many of his
congregation became sympathetic toward the doctrines of the
Universalists and some years later a majority became Uni-
versalists and continued to occupy the second meeting house
built between 1797 and 1801. They repaired the meeting
house in 1837 but later when further repairs were needed it
was decided to sell the building. It was torn down and the
lumber used to build other buildings, one of which stood until
a few years ago on the Marshall farm, a short distance from
the original site of the meeting house. The society continued
to hold meetings until about twenty years ago. When the
society was given up its funds were donated for the building
of a mortuary chapel at Elm Grove.
Grace Church
During the eighteenth century there was no organized
body of the Episcopalians with a place of worship in the town
of Windsor. Those who wished to be associated with the
Episcopal Church found a welcome in neighboring towns.
Many of them joined the church in Simsbury. The following
is a typical certificate signed by one who wished to escape
taxation by the Established Order and contribute to the sup-
port of another church.
204 OLD WINDSOR
I Chester Barber of Windsor living within the located
bounds of Poquonock Society have this first day of April 1797
joined the Episcopal Church in Simsbury called St. Andrew's
and lodge this certificate as evidence.
Chester Barber
It was not until 1842 that the Episcopalians began to hold
services in Windsor. The official records of the Episcopal
Church at Windsor Center open with these words :
"Upon the seventh day of August in the year of our Lord
1842, Sunday, the eleventh after Trinity the Reverend Arthur
Cleaveland Coxe, Rector of St. John's Church, Hartford, cele-
brated Divine Service in Windsor, Connecticut, Second District
from Hartford, in the schoolhouse of that District.
It being desired that further services should be held in
Windsor, Divine Service was appointed for Wednesday eve-
ning August 17th, 1842, in the schoolhouse of the Third Dis-
trict from Hartford."
On November 27th following they moved into the hall of
the Academy at the head of Broad Street and the first morn-
ing service was held. In the evening of the following 7th of
December the congregation appointed Henry Halsey, Chair-
man, and Thomas Scott Preston, Secretary, and passed the
following resolution :
"Resolved, that it is expedient to organize in this place
an Ecclesiastical Society in communion with the Bishop and
Diocese of Connecticut." Four days later (December 11th,
1842) the record reads: "A Sunday School was this day fully
organized and systematized by the blessing of God." On the
evening of December 14th, 1842, the group organized under
the name of St. Gabriel's Church, Windsor. Eight persons
subscribed to the articles by which this organization was
created. They were : Isaac Underhill, George Spalding, Fitch
Bissell, John Spencer, Longworth Smith, Quartus Bedortha,
Samuel 0. Loomis, Henry A. Bliss. The Rev. A. Cleaveland
Coxe became the first Missionary Pastor.
May 13, 1843, it was voted to ascertain the expense of
purchasing land and erecting a building. On the following
6th of November the corner stone of a church edifice was laid
by Bishop Thomas Church Brownell. The deed of the land
CHUHOH'BS 205
on which this edifice was to stand was obtained from Job
Allyn, May 28, 1844. On January 15th, 1845, Bishop Brownell
and thirteen clergymen consecrated St. Gabriel's Church.
By 1853 the membership of the society had grown to a number
that caused agitation for a new building or the enlargement
of the old one. After several years land was obtained from
H. Sidney Hayden on the corner of Broad Street and Island
Eoad and on August 2nd, 1864, the corner stone of the present
church building was laid and the name of the society was
changed to Grace Church.
The building was finished and consecrated by Bishop John
Williams on September 13, 1865. A committee consisting of
H. Sidney Hayden, L. M. Smith, and Albert Morrison was
appointed and authorized to sell the old St. Gabriel's building.
On November 1, 1865, they sold it to the Rev. James Smyth,
Rector of St. Mary's Church of Windsor Locks, for Two
Thousand Dollars.
The following have served as pastors :
The Rev. Arthur Cleaveland Coxe, Missionary Pastor,
beginning in 1843
The Rev. William B. Corbin, first Resident Rector 1844
The Rev. William Payne, Missionary Rector 1845
The Rev. A. Nichols 1849
The Rev. James Rankin 1850
The Rev. Goodwin 1854
The Rev. Reuel H. Tuttle 1860
No pastor from July 10, 1870 to April, 1871
The Rev. Benjamin Judkins, Jr. 1871
The Rev. James B. Goodrich 1880
The Rev. Frederick W. Harriman 1886
The Rev. L. Robert Sheffield 1920
The Rev. Wilfrid L. Greenwood 1927
The Rev. Howard F. Dunn 1933
The present membership of the church is 240.
The Sunday School has an enrollment of 115.
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St. Joseph's Church
In order to understand the establishment and growth of
St. Joseph's Church it will be helpful to begin with the work
of the Catholics in Windsor Locks and the establishment of
St. Mary's Church of which St. Joseph's was formerly a
mission.
According to the historians of the Church the first known
official visit of a priest to the town of Windsor occurred in
1827 during the building of the Locks Canal. In that year
the Very Rev. John Power, Vicar-General of New York,
visited the canal workmen to administer the rites of the
Church to one or more stricken laborers. Having performed
this service he then invited the Catholics among the workmen
to assemble in the open air to participate in the service of
the Mass.
This first visit paved the way for many more and Father
Power, the Rev. R. D. Woodley, the Rev. B. O'Cavanagh,
Fathers Fitton, Kiernan, Walsh, Brady and others made the
settlement at the Locks the object of their missionary care,
coming from New York and Hartford, until 1852 when the
Rev. Hugh Carmody, D. D., was appointed pastor of this and
other missions.
The Rev. Dr. Carmody was succeeded after a few months
by the Rev. James Smyth who took up his permanent residence
at the Locks on June 24, 1852. On August 17 of the same
year ground was broken for a church edifice, the corner stone
was laid on September 14, following, and on Easter Sunday,
1853, Mass was celebrated in the new building which with
some changes and enlargement is the St. Mary's Church of
1935.
During the long pastorate of Father Smyth, which con-
tinued until his death on May 16, 1874, the mission at
Poquonock which later became the parish of St. Joseph's,
grew rapidly.
Work had been started at Poquonock by the Rev. Father
Brady in 1848. In 1852 Father Smyth secured the Holy Name
hall for a meeting place and services were conducted there
until 1887 when the present commodious structure was erected
208
OLD WINDSOR
during the pastorate of the Rev. James O'R. Sheridan at
St. Mary's.
ST. JOiSEPH'S CHURCH, POQUONOCK
In 1892 St. Joseph's became a separate parish, and St.
Gabriel's Church at Windsor Center, which, Hke St. Joseph's,
had been until then a mission of the church at Windsor Locks,
became a mission of St. Joseph's and retained this relationship
until 1921, when it, too, became a separate parish.
Since St. Joseph's was given its autonomy in August,,
1892, it has been served by the following pastors :
The Rev. John Fleming 1892 to 1898
The Rev. Thomas Shanley 1898 to 1900
The Rev. Francis J. Lally 1900 to 1911
CHURCHES
209
The Rev. John J. Fitzgerald 1911 to 1916
The Rev. John F. Quinn 1916 to 1921
The Rev. Edward J. Plunkett 1921 to 1930
The Rev. Patrick L. Dolan 1930 to
Since July 2, 1934, owing to the absence of Father Dolan
in connection with other duties, the care of the parish has
been in the hands of the Rev. Joseph A. Healey. The number of
parishioners under his ministrations is over 700. The enroll-
ment in the parish Sunday School is 167.
St. Gabriel's Church
The history of St. Gabriel's Church, like the history of
St. Joseph's, was intimately connected with St. Mary's Church
of Windsor Locks during the many years when it was a
mission of the older parish. There is an early period in its
history, however, which merits special mention. Records
preserved in the Kennedy family, which has always been one
of the most active supporters of the work of this organization,
show that the first Mass to be celebrated within the territory
of the present day Windsor took place in the home of Mr. John
Hickey, which stood just north of the Bissell Ferry Road on
the east side of Palisado Avenue. The date of this first Mass
was sometime in the year 1843.
ST. GABRIEIL'S CHURCH— Purchased in 1865
The home of Mr. Hickey is no longer standing, but his
granddaughter, Miss Katherine J. Kennedy, preserved an ex-
cellent picture of it, now in the possession of the Rev. John F.
Quinn, from which the accompanying reproduction was made.
The celebrant of the Mass was the Rev. James Smyth from
210
OLD WINDSOR
Home of Mr. and Mrs. John Hlickey where mass
was first celebrated in 1843
Windsor Locks. Mass was often celebrated in the home of
the Hickey family before a regular place of worship was estab-
lished. For a time services were held in the Academy build-
ing, which stood where the Congregational Parish House now
stands. Then on November 1, 1865, the Rev. James Smyth
bought from a committee representing the Episcopalians of
Windsor their former house of worship and the mission of
St. Gabriel's was firmly established. (The history of the
building of this original St. Gabriel's edifice is told in some
detail in the article on the Episcopal Church and the record
OHURCHEiS
211
of the sale may be found in the Windsor Land Records, Vol.
46, page 248.)
From 1865 to 1892 both St. Gabriel's and St. Joseph's
were missions of the Windsor Locks parish. When St. Joseph's
was made a full fledged parish in the latter year, St. Gabriel's
became a mission of the Poquonock parish and remained so
until 1921.
ST. GABRIEL'S CHUEJOH
212
OLD WINDSOR
In the meantime, during the pastorate of the Rev. John J.
Fitzgerald, the mission disposed of the old edifice and con-
structed the present beautiful church on lower Broad Street,
which was completed in 1915. In 1916 the Rev. John F. Quinn
succeeded Father Fitzgerald as pastor at Poquonock and had
charge of this mission at Windsor Center until 1921 when
St. Gabriel's became an independent parish. A home for a
rectory was purchased adjoining the church property on the
south and Father Quinn moved into this new parish. It has
continued to grow and prosper since that date.
THE REV. JOHN F. QUINN
Pastor of St. Gabniel's Church
In December, 1922, twenty-five years after his ordination
as a priest on December 18, 1897, Father Quinn celebrated his
Silver Jubilee in the new church, which was crowded not only
with his own parishioners but with many friends from
churches of other denominations in the town, by a Solemn
High Mass with himself as celebrant.
The Rev. Michael Lynch of Hartford was Deacon. The
Rev. Simon Forestier, M. S., of Hartford, was Sub-Deacon.
The Rev. James Q. Dolan of Tariff ville, a classmate of Father
Quinn, preached the eulogy. Special music was rendered by
the choir under the direction of Mrs. Earl U. Richmond, the
organist.
The parishioners in 1935 number 800. The church
Sunday School has an enrollment of 140. Father Quinn has
also established an annual vacation school.
CHURCHES 213
St. Gertrude's Church
Before the year 1928 the Catholic members of the com-
munity at Wilson were a part of St. Gabriel's parish and
attended services at Windsor Center. Father Quinn of St.
Gabriel's also at times held classes for instruction and carried
on educational work with the young people of Wilson in the
Roger Wolcott School. The growth of the population, the
distance from Windsor Center, and the heavy burdens resting
on the pastor, led to the establishment of a separate mission
at Wilson which was organized in 1928 and has since been
attended from St. Thomas' Seminary,
A fine frame construction building was soon erected on
the corner of Windsor Avenue and Fanuel Street to take care
of the Catholic population of Wilson. The new mission was
named St. Gertrude's.
»w-=»N««»tawi' ■«*«»*••'■«'»« **•
ST. GERTRUDE'S GHUROH^Erected in 1928
The church was dedicated on Sunday, August 5, 1928,
by the Rt. Rev. John J. Nilan, D. D., assisted by the Very Rev,
Msgr. William Flynn, Chancellor of the Diocese. The Rev.
214 OLD WINDSOR
John F. Quinn of St. Gabriel's Church read the Mass and
made the announcements. The Rt. Rev. Bishop preached on
the "Mission of the Church" to the 300 persons in attendance.
Sunday services were under the care of Msgr. Flynn and
the Rev. Francis P. Keough (now Bishop of Providence) from
August 12, to September 2, 1928.
On the following 9th of September the Rev. Raymond G.
LaFontaine of St. Thomas' Seminary was made administrator
of the mission.
Father LaFontaine, whose studies had been carried on
at the Norwich Free Academy, St. Thomas' Seminary, Hart-
ford, Conn., St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, Maryland, and
the Sulpician Seminary of the Catholic University, Washing-
ton, D. C, was ordained a priest on April 19, 1927, appointed
chaplain of St. Francis Hospital at Hartford, and made a
member of the staff of St. Thomas' Seminary in January, 1928.
On his appointment to St. Gertrude's he immediately took up
the work at Wilson, prosecuted it with success and now has
an attending congregation of about 700 and a Church Sunday
School with an enrollment of 250. An annual vacation school
has also been established.
The Baptists in Windsor
About 1750 many, who^were dissatisfied with the forced
system of taxation then in operation for the support of the
established or Congregational Church, revolted and joined or
created other church organizations. Some of these became
Baptists. They built a meeting house on Poquonock Avenue
near the point where the avenue is joined by the Pigeon Hill
Road. Several clergymen served this church, the last of whom
was the Rev. Frederic Chapman. To escape the taxation im-
posed upon them by the established church, dissenters were
obliged to file a certificate like the following:
Windsor, Dec. 5th, 1817.
I now certify according as the law requireth that I belong
to the Baptist Society in Windsor.
Hezh H. Palmer.
CHURCHES 215
A Baptist Society was later org-anized at Rainbow. Pre-
vious to 1867 services had been held there occasionally thru
the encouragement and support of Mr. George L. Hodge. In
that year services became regular thru the aid of the Second
Baptist Church of SufReld and their pastor, the Rev. Dr. Ives.
The Rev. W. F. Hanseil, D. D., became pastor of the organiza-
tion in 1870. The Rev. W. K. Dean served from July, 1876 to
June 6, 1878. The Rev. A. S. Burrows was pastor from
October 1, 1878, until June, 1881. The Rev. G. W. Hinckley
assumed charge on November 1, 1881.
The organization was officially recognized as a Baptist
Church on May 18, 1875, and four years later built a chapel
in which to worship. The first service in this new home was
held February 14, 1879. On July 8, 1880 the building was
dedicated.
After about 1893, due to removal of many of its members,
the church ceased to hold regular services and on August 27,
1900, their chapel was sold to the Community Church at Wilson
and removed to that place.
The Wilson Community Church
The religious activities which resulted in the organization
of the Community Church at Wilson began in February, 1853,
when Mrs. Susan A. Wilson and Mrs. Luther Barber interested
George A. Hunn, Frederick Hills, and Enos J. Cornwell in a
project to conduct a Sunday School and evening meetings in
the old brick, gambrel-roofed schoolhouse situated on the east
side of Windsor Avenue opposite Pipeswamp Road (now
Wolcott Avenue).
Few people supported their efforts while some actively
opposed them, but under the leadership of Mr. Hunn services
were continued in the old schoolhouse until 1856 when the new
schoolhouse (now standing in the rear of the four-room build-
ing) was built. In spite of violent opposition this building
was made a two-story structure, thus providing an upstairs
hall which could be used as a place of worship. Here Mr.
Hunn continued to serve as leader until 1863, when Judge
Heman H. Barber took his place and carried on until 1865.
For three years supply speakers were obtained from Hartford.
216
OLD WINDSOR
Mr. Homer Hastings supplied during 1868. From 1869 to
1891 Mr. Horace E. Cooley was the leader. The Rev. Andrew
J. Culver served from July, 1891 to July, 1893; William J.
Wood, until October, 1894; the Rev. Frank V. Mills, until
January, 1895 ; students from the Hartford Theological Semi-
oiary, until 1902.
In 1900 an association was formed and incorporated
under the name of the Wilson Christian Union Association.
In August of that year this association purchased of the Rain-
bow Baptist Society their chapel, built in 1879 but unused
after 1893 because of the removal of many members of the
Baptist organization.
A lot was purchased and this building was moved to it
and made into the church edifice that continues to serve as
the home of the Community Church, whose organization was
completed in 1902.
THE WILiSON CiOMiMUNITY CHURCH
CllURCHES 217
The committee that drafted its covenant and by-laws
consisted of a Congregationalist, a Methodist, a Baptist, an
Episcopalian, and a Lutheran. Persons of other denomina-
tions have been welcomed as members and leaders and the
community spirit has always predominated. The pastors since
1902 have been :
1902 Georg-e W. Owen
1903 Charles S. Gray
1906 Frederick F. Voorhees
1909 Elbert C. Lane
1921 Thomas R. Kelly
1924 Walter T. Aiken
1925 Charles R. Vickery
1928 Leslie Durand Shaffer
1931 Howard A. Seymour
1933 Frederick H. Thompson
The following is the list of incorporators who formed the
association in the year 1900 : Samuel H. Wilson, Leland P.
Wilson, Flavel W. Woodworth, Mattie S. Woodworth, Eliza P.
Wilson, Frederick N. Wilson, E. Belle Wilson, 0. P. Clark,
Hattie J. Clark, Mary R. Armitage, C. A. Armitage, Grace S,
Barrows, Henrietta A. Peck, Lois M. Wetmore, F. Louise
Barber, Helen T. Lomax, Christian Meier, Anna M. Stone,
Clara L. Stone, Helen W. Morrison, W. Irving Morse, Mrs.
Emma Morse, H. E. Wetmore, W. S. Pierce, Mary L. Phelps,
Bertha S. Macfarlane, Addie M. Marble, George Meier, Fred
J. Gray, Bennie Morrison, Lewis Sikes, Ursula D. Sykes, John
E. Morrison, S. M. Morrison, Gertrude Morrison, A. H. Cham-
berlin, Annie L. Chamberlin, Grace S. Rodgers, David L.
Whittlesey, Edna B. E. Whittlesey, E. M. Stone, Willard Stone.
The present membership list contains 180 names. The
Sunday School has an enrollment of over 200. This school
has the remarkable record of having had only six superin-
tendents in eighty-eight years. The present superintendent,
Leland P. Wilson, has served since 1901. For several years
the church has conducted an annual vacation school in the
month of July.
218
OLD WINDSOR
Bethany Pentecostal Cliurch
The Church of the Bethany Pentecostal Assembly of
Number 12 Windsor Avenue, Wilson, was built in 1920. This
building stands on the east side of the avenue but a few feet
from the Hartford line. It is now the headquarters of the
Veterans of Foreign Wars, serving both Hartford and
Windsor.
Hayden Station Social Club
This club, the center of the social life of Hayden Station,
is one of the most active in the town. Organized on October
26, 1887, it flourished from the beginning and soon erected
an attractive and commodious club house on land donated by
Mr. and Mrs. Henry Osborne. By 1893 this building was paid
for and the club was free from debt. It has since maintained
an average membership of about sixty. The first president
was Mrs. Emma Easton. The present president is Henry
English. Carroll Brooks is vice-president. The secretary is
MBS. EiMMA EASTON
First President of the Hayden Station Social Club
CHURCHES
219
Mrs. Hattie F. Granger. Arthur Granger is treasurer. Co-
operation in every enterprise and gratitude to those who have
preceded them explain the remarkable success of this social
venture.
The charter members of this club were : Mr. and Mrs.
William A. Easton, Mrs. Henry Osborne, Mrs. Elsie Porter,
Mrs. Hiram Bissell, Mrs. William Allen, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis
B. Allen, Mrs. Thomas Thrall, Mrs. Elias B. Rhaura, Mr. and
Mrs. William Brooks, Mrs. M. A. Hayden, Miss Annie Clapp,
Miss Bessie Clapp, Miss Cora E. Thrall, Miss Mary I. Bissell,
Miss Emma Bissell, Miss Linda Bissell, Miss Annie Rhaum,
Miss Jcsie Rhaum, Miss Nellie Sheridan, Miss Louise Osborne,
Mr. Theodore V. Clapp, Mr. Frank Hayden, Mr. Edward
Jewell, Mr. Velorus Dean, Mr. Frank Osborne.
BRIDGE OVER THE FARMIN'GTON AT WINDSOR CENTER
This bridge was built when the Hartford and Springfield branch
of the New Haven System was constructed in 1844-45. It spans the
river near the landing place and wharf where ocean going vessels took
on their cargoes of Windsor brick one hundred years ago.
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Business and Industries
Tobacco
The first historical record we have of tobacco.'s being grown
in Connecticut was in 1640 when seed was brought from Vir-
ginia and grown in Windsor, only seven years after the town
was settled. In order to protect the new home industry this
law was passed the following year:
"It is ordered that what person or persons within this
jurisdiction shall after September 1641, drinke any other
tobacco but such as shal be planted within their libertye, shall
forfeit for every pound so spent, five shillings, except they
have license from this Corte."
From 1640 to the present date there has probably never
been a year when tobacco was not one of the important agri-
cultural products of Windsor and it has been the most impor-
tant agricultural product of the town for many years.
Windsor has also always been the pioneer in scientific
research in the growing of tobacco. During the last decade
of the last century the Connecticut Tobacco Experiment Com-
pany was organized by Windsor men in Poquonock in order
to carry on fertilizer experiments. The results of this set of
TOBACCO CURING SHEDS
222
OLD WINDSOR
A FIELD OF BRlOA'DLEAF TOBACCO
experiments were published annually and they have stood the
test of time.
This was followed by experiments in the curing of tobacco
which also changed materially our conception of that process.
Another chapter of this pioneering progressive spirit was
the establishment here in 1921 of the Tobacco Experiment
Station, supported at first only by the growers but later taken
over and enlarged by the State, It is the only Tobacco Experi-
ment Station in New England and one of four or five of its
kind in America. Dr. Paul J. Anderson, Pathologlst-in-Charge,
is director of the station.
Windsor was likewise the pioneer in the Shade tobacco
industry. The first shade tent constructed in New England
was in Poquonock where they grew a half acre of tobacco
under cloth in 1900. People laughed at the foolishness of the
experiment station professors who were trying to grovv'
tobacco in a tent. But the experiment was successful and
within a few years it spread all up and down the Connecticut
Valley until it reached over 9,000 acres. And Windsor is still
BUSIiN^HSlS AND INiDUSTRIBS
223
A TYPICAL TOBAOOO TENT
UNDER A TENT IN JUNE
224
OLD WINDSOR
the center of the shade industry. The town grows more acres-
of tobacco under cloth than any other town not only in Con-
necticut and New England but in the whole world.
The tents are prepared by setting posts upon the fields
and running strong, heavy wire from the tops of these posts
in two directions at right angles to each other with the result
that an airplane view would show the field covered with a wire
net having meshes about one rod square stretched about eight
feet above the ground. Then the cheesecloth is drawn over the
field above the wires and attached to them by means of strong,
heavy sewing twine.
The tent protects the plants in many ways. It keeps out
hosts of injurious insects, protects from frost, wind, and hail,
and guards against drouth by checking evaporation. Its
greatest service, however, consists in producing the equivalent
of a semi-tropical climate and enabling the farmer to grow a
type of tobacco normal to a climate much warmer than that
of Windsor. This tcbacco used only for wrappers brings a.
high price and in a favorable season offers the grower tempt-
ing opportunities for profit.
POSTS AND WIRE READY FOR THE CLOTH
BUSINEISiS AND INDUSTRIES 225
Market Gardening
While tobacco growing is the hne of agriculture most
often associated with the town of Windsor, it is by no means
the only one that is carried on extensively and successfully.
The broad level fields on the west bank of the Connecticut,
east of the village of Wilson, and other fields west of that
village, furnish a soil probably unsurpassed for market garden-
ing, and their proximity to the city of Hartford provides easy
access to a profitable market.
About the year 1896, Niels Christensen and his brother
Anders, entered into partnership under the name of the
Christensen Brothers and began raising garden vegetables for
the Hartford market. For eighteen years they carried on a
successful business together. Then Niels Christensen and
his son John formed a new partnership and cultivated part of
the land east of Wilson Village, while Anders Christensen car-
ried on business alone farther south near the Hartford line.
About 1920 Niels Christensen retired and a new partnership
was formed between his son John and his son-in-law Louis
Lee Rand under the name of Christensen & Rand. This firm
has spacious greenhouses for the cultivation of winter prod-
ucts, hotbeds for starting early plants for transplanting and
for market, and cultivates about one hundred thirty-five acres
of garden vegetables of every description adaptable to the
climate. In the busy season this firm furnishes employment
to sixty persons and is probably the largest firm of its kind
in Windsor.
The same general type of gardening is carried on by
many individuals and firms in the vicinity of Wilson and on
the west side of Palisado Avenue beginning about a mile north
of Windsor Center.
Among the well-known market gardeners on Wolcott Ave-
nue are Hans Lund who came from Germany to Wilson about
1898, Sonka B. Sonnichsen, who has cultivated most of Mr.
Lund's farm since 1920, and Peter Rowett, who began market
gardening about 1902. On Olga Avenue Extension, Gustav
Kaiser has conducted a flourishing enterprise since 1928, and
Martin Becker and the Okon Brothers a short distance south
of Mr. Kaiser's farm have supphed vegetables to the Hartford
226 OLD WINDSOR
markets for many years. Their luxuriantly growing fields,
beautiful homes, and fine spacious barns and storehouses give
evidence that scientific agriculture can be made successful and
profitable.
To the north of Windsor Center the same type of garden-
ing can be found in the same flourishing condition. The lead-
ing gardeners are Hans C. Christensen, who established his
business here in 1925; Alfred C. Jacobsen, who came a year
later; Chris Christensen and Anton G. Arens, who came in
1927.
Floriculture
Floriculture is one of the more recent developments of
Windsor industry. In this field Edward F. McDermott was
the pioneer. He established his greenhouses, the first in
Windsor, on the west side of Broad Street a short distance
south of Windsor Green in 1910. Here he has conducted a
successful business continuously since that date, being assisted
at present by his sons.
Only two years later, in 1912, two brothers, Gustav and
Axel Hallgren, established greenhouses on the east side of
Windsor Avenue at Wilson and the Hallgren Brothers now do
an extensive business.
In 1921 Eugene Drake and his wife, Edna L. Drake, estab-
lished a business on the east side of Palisado Avenue and
carried it on together until Mr. Drake's death about seven years
later. Since that time Mrs. Drake has conducted the Palisado
Greenhouse specializing in geraniums and chrysanthemums,
many of which are shipped to customers in all parts of the
country.
In 1927 Sidney J. Snelgrove established a greenhouse on
the east side of upper Broad Street, where his expanding busi-
ness soon made him one of the town's leading florists.
In the same year (1927) a new venture was . started at
Poquonock by Ernest S. Clark, who specialized in the cultiva-
tion of gladioli. In this field his success has been outstanding.
His choice varieties of bulbs have attracted national attention.
In fact he has shipped them to the most distant markets as
far away as Australia and New Zealand. Many of his cut
flowers are sold in the New York Cut Flower Market.
BUSINiBSiS AlND INiDUSTBIES 227
One of the latest additions to Windsor's flourishing- group
of greenhouses is that of John F. Ward & Son on upper
Pahsado Avenue almost opposite the Hayden schoolhouse.
This firm has a large trade, which is mostly local.
The Windsor Company
When a few venturesome pioneers in scientific agricultural
tobacco raising grew half an acre of tobacco under a tent
thirty-five years ago, they were laughed at by more conserva-
tive growers, but today thousands of acres of tents in the
Connecticut valley and elsewhere testify to the success of
their experiment.
Having taught the world how to grow one crop under
cover, it was perfectly natural that Windsor should pioneer
and experiment in new fields. A new industry resulted — the
manufacture and distribution of a special kind of heavy,
coarse, reinforced cheesecloth to be used in covering tobacco
fields. This cloth has never been manufactured in Windsor
JOHN E. LUDDY AMONG HIS ASTERS
228
OLD WINDSOR
because the factories for its production did not exist here and
did exist elsewhere, but Windsor experimentation produced
the first demand for its production and Windsor became a
leader in its distribution. One man, Mr, John E. Luddy, saw
its possibilities for development and in 1918 established the
Windsor Company for the distribution of cloth to farmers
in the Connecticut valley.
The next step was the discovery of a means of salvaging
the cloth after it had served its purpose during a period of
about one hundred twenty days. Mr. Luddy bought back the
cloth at the end of the season, sorted it in his warehouse at
Windsor Center and resold to Cuba and Porto Rico the long
and undamaged strips, which were suitable for a season's use
in those islands because of their milder climate. The shorter,
torn and damaged strips were prepared for use in wiping and
cleaning machinery and for all the purposes commonly served
by cheesecloth and cotton waste in industrial plants. To aug-
ment his business Mr. Luddy added to his stock a great variety
of other standard wipers, polishing cloths, sponges, brushes,
brooms, and mops. Then he included other fabrics such as
towels, sheets, blankets, table linen, hosiery, and a long list
of necessities for the home, the hotel, the ocean liner, and the
industrial plant.
But the outstanding achievement historically has been
the development of the "Aster Cloth." Asters and other
flowering plants were being destroyed by insects. Mr. Luddy
was asked for a cloth that would protect them. The agricul-
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AN ASTER CLOTH HOUSE
BUSHN'Sas AND INDUSTRIES
229
tural department at Washington was interested and cooper-
ated. On his Windsor grounds Mr. Luddy experimented until
he had solved the problem and learned the type of cloth neces-
sary to protect the flowering plants from insects and also how
by the use of light and dark cloth for shading purposes to pro»-
duce many desired results in the flowers themselves.
The agricultural department published the results in some
of its bulletins and "Aster Cloth" became in great demand.
Thru the Windsor Company, which now has a branch office
at 102 Wooster Street, New York City, "Aster Cloth" is now
sold to growers of asters, chrysanthemums, pom poms, snap-
dragons, dahlias, and other flowering plants in every state in
the Union.
THE NEW ASTER CULTURE
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Illustrating mftlmd <>fnj>/'hii»g black doth (lold Lode CliriJ.smiflwininns aftrr i<hadi)ig In
shades in the green, lipase bloDniSept olli, nurniulflnxcerihg time Oct 1st.
230 OLD WINDSOR
Brickmaking in Windsor
Brickmaking has been an important Windsor industry
since early colonial days. In the olden time many of the most
prosperous farmers used to make brick during the intervals of
the year when there was no farm work to be done. Records
indicate that as many as forty brick yards operated as late as
1846. More recently the work has been carried on in a few
large yards by more modern methods, which undoubtedly have
produced more brick each year than all the old yards put
together.
Among the prominent brickmakers of early days were
Edward and Martin Barber, whose kiln was in the rear of the
present residence of Alvin L. Hubbard. Sailing vessels came
up the river to take cargoes of brick from the ox-carts that
delivered them at the Mud Mill landing. A train of seventeen
or eighteen ox-carts could be seen at some periods of the year
starting out at sunrise to deliver brick to the merchants in
Hartford, where they bartered their loads for groceries, cloth,
and other merchandise. The merchants had stock-yards in
Mjhich the bricks were stored. The house now known as the
Henry Hubbard house on the west side of Windsor Avenue
at Station 11, built in 1670 from bricks made in this neighbor-
hood, is the oldest brick house in Windsor.
About 1812 Henry Wilson began making brick in that
part of the town now known as Wilson. He carried on busi-
ness under his own name until 1847 when he took his son
Henry, Junior, into partnership and continued under the name
of Henry Wilson & Son. After Mr. Wilson's death the busi-
ness was carried on by Allyn M. Wilson until 1878 when his
nephew, Samuel Wilson, organized the Wilson Brick Company.
He retired from business in 1906. Fred H. Young became the
next manager of the company and carried on the work until
his death in April, 1930.
Another important brickyard was run by Nathan and
Daniel Loomis just north of the present home of George R.
Ford. Here William Mack learned brickmaking between 1827
and 1830 and in 1830 he started business on his own account
on Pleasant Street. From his first kiln he furnished brick for
the house built in 1830 by Wilson Shelton at the comer of
BUSINESS AND INDUSTRIES
231
Pleasant Street and East Street. Bricks from his yards and
others in the same neighborhood were taken to the Farmington
River bank by ox-carts and there loaded on board boats which
came to wharves a short distance southwest of the Congre-
gational Church.
In 1846 Mr. Mack abandoned his Pleasant Street yard and
started business on Mack Street, though brickmaking con-
tinued on Pleasant Street until about 1898 under the manage-
ment of Wallace G. Wrisley.
In the yard on the north side of Mack Street, William
Mack, assisted by some or all of his five sons, who had learned
the brickmaking trade, carried on the business until after the
Civil War, when his son, William Russell Mack, set up business
in his own name, still using the same yard. In the spring of
1891 Edward W. Mack, son of William Russell Mack, estab-
lished a business for himself and in 1911 started a new yard on
a large scale on Bloomfield Avenue. In this new venture
Edward W. Mack, Jr., became a partner and the business has
been carried on since 1911 under the name of Edward W.
Mack & Son.
FOUR GENERATIONS OF BRICKMAKERS
Right, William Mack; Center, Wlilliam Russell Mack;
Left, Edward W. Mack and Edward W. Mack, Jr.
232 OLD WINDSOR
Two processes have been employed by the Windsor brick-
makers, known as the "water process" and the "sand process."
By the water process the bricks are prepared and made as
follows : Two loads of sand and four loads of clay and sufficient
water to wet them properly are put into a shallow pit and
thoroughly mixed by means of a cragg, which is a heavy
wooden beam in which are set many wooden spikes. One end
of the cragg is attached to a strong upright post set in the
center of the pit. Horses are hitched to the outer end of the
cragg and driven around the pit dragging the cragg through
the sand, clay and water for three or four hours until the
contents of the pit are ready for molding into bricks. The
mixture is then put into molds by hand. Next the molds are
inverted on smooth level ground and the bricks are allowed
to slip out. In order that the bricks may not stick to the
wooden molds these are dipped in water before being filled with
clay. This gives them the name of "water struck bricks."
The new or sand process, which was used at the Wilson Brick
Company's yards, is now used by most brickmakers. In both
processes the bricks are built into kilns in the form of arches
under which wood fires are kept burning from five to seven
days until the bricr^s are thoroughly baked.
The Mack Company, the only one now operating in
Windsor, has almost a monopoly of water struck bricks which
are in demand as facing for buildings of the finest type such
as some of those recently erected at Yale University, New
Haven, Columbia University, New York City, and in the
Miriam Osborn Memorial Home at Rye, New York.
Shad Fishing
From the earliest days Farmington River shad have
ranked high in the list of delicacies. The season for catching
them is short. In the spring they run up the Connecticut and
the Farmington to deposit their eggs in fresh water. After
spawning they return to salt water. A hundred years ago the
farmers depended upon them much more than they do now
and planned to catch enough in the spring season to salt down
as an important part of their winter food. Now they are
caught mostly by a few groups of men who sell them for im-
mediate consumption.
BUSINESS AND INDUSTRIES
233
There are two common methods of capturing shad. One
consists in drawing seines in the deep pools that are their
favorite haunts. The other consists in setting gill nets ex-
tending across the river, but not entirely across, as that is
forbidden by law. When the fish come in contact with these
nets they attempt to dive through head first. As the meshes
are two small to allow good sized fish to pass through they
find themselves entangled and attempt to extricate themselves,
but their expanded gills prevent their escape.
Like all other fishing, shad fishing is uncertain business.
A haul may be wasted labor and it may produce a hundred
beautiful fish and in exceptional cases an astonishing number.
Mr. John Gary of Windsor Center, now eighty-two years
•of age, is probably the town's best informed authority on the
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2.34
OLD WINDSOR
shad fishing- of the past seventy-five years. He attributes the
great dechne in the number of fish now caught in the Farming-
ton and other streams flowing into the Connecticut River to
the sewage and factory pollution that have rendered the
streams unfit for the propag-ation and growth of young fish.
He recalls the time when a wagon-load of shad and salmon in
about equal numbers could be taken by two men in a single
day, when the brooks were filled with trout, and when alewives
were so plentiful in the spring that they were used by the
farmers as fertilizer.
The Windsor Cannery
The commercial canning of locally grown agricultural
products on a large scale began in Windsor about forty years
ago, when the Windsor Cannery was established in April, 1894,
THE WINDSOR CANNERY
as the Windsor Canning Company, a stock company organized
for the purpose of canning fruits and vegetables. The stock
was owned by more than 40 representative citizens of Windsor
and the adjacent towns. The first officers were Horace H.
Ellsworth, President; R. N. FitzGerald, Vice-President; H.
Sidney Hayden, Secretary; Wilham H. Filley, Treasurer;
Robert Kean, Superintendent and Manager, and the following
directors: Horace H. Ellsworth, R. N. FitzGerald, Walter
Smith, Fredrick Ellsworth, Frank H. Whipple, Ralph H.
BUSINESS AiND INDUSTRIES 235
Ensign, William H. Filley, Lemuel S. Ellsworth, and Hastes
W. Alford.
A large variety of products were canned and large quan-
tities of tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, apples, etc., were bought
from the local farmers and employment given to many local
people.
After a few years the company failed and was sold at
auction to Horace H. Ellsworth who took William H. Filley in
as his partner.
Under the new management fewer things were canned
but more attention was paid to producing a quality product.
Soon an excellent reputation was estabhshed throughout New
England.
Most of the goods are now packed under buyers' labels
and nearly all the well-known brands have been used.
During the World War the Government took over a large
part of the pack for war purposes. These goods with thirteen
other lots were the only ones graded in the highest grade out
of more than 500 lots taken.
In 1914 Philip F. Ellsworth became manager and later a
partner and two years after the death of Mr. Filley, in 1919,
he bought the Filley interest and became managing partner.
Shortly before the death of Mr. Horace H. Ellsworth in
1934, Mr. Philip F. Ellsworth, son of Horace H. Ellsworth,
bought out his father's interest and became sole owner.
The products now packed include canned tomatoes, tomato
puree, and tomato juice.
The plant is located on the east side of Poquonock Avenue
a short distance north of the Old Grist Mill, which stands on
the corner of Poquonock Avenue and East Street.
Diversified Agriculture
Tobacco culture, market gardening, and floriculture are
the leaders in Windsor's types of agriculture, but there are
many other types that may be classified as side lines, some of
which are by no means unimportant.
During the period from 1925 to the present time dullness
in the tobacco market, ascribed to an overproduction of that
plant, led many to look for some sideline that would be profit-
236 OLD WINDSOR
able in itself and permit them to decrease their acreage of
tobacco.
A few tried melons, for which the soil is well adapted.
Another small group raised potatoes on a large scale. The
growing of tomatoes was attractive to many since the Windsor
Cannery made a good home market for a large part of their
production. Asparagus grew well and found a ready market.
The growing of sweet corn for the seed market was perhaps
the most attractive of the many sidelines to which some of
the growers of large crops of tobacco decided to turn part of
their attention. A number of growers of tobacco curtailed
their acreage of "the weed" and raised a few acres of seed
sweet corn — from forty to fifty acres being the limit for a
single grower with one or two exceptions.
Probably the largest grower of sweet corn in 1935 is
Charles A. Huntington of Poquonock, w'hose farms lie mainly
a short distance southwest of Poquonock village. His average
acreage, including what he either plants himself or controls,
is about 85 acres. Last year he sent to market about 170,000
pounds of seed. His output goes largely to the seedsmen of
Wethersfield, Connecticut, Milford, Connecticut, Rochester,
New York, Bristol, Pennsylvania, and several places in the
Susquehanna River valley.
These attempts at diversification show that Windsor
farmers are less dependent upon a few staple crops than many
formerly supposed.
Manufacturing Industries
Tho numerous manufacturing enterprises have been
carried on in Windsor the town has never been predominately
a manufacturing center except in the villages at the Center
and farther north, where considerable manufacturing has
flourished at different times.
Clocks
Among the earliest objects of Windsor craftsmanship to
achieve a reputation that has survived were the clocks made
by Seth Young, who is also reported as one of the Colonial
makers of hour glasses. He came to Windsor in 1742, we
are told, and resided here until 1760 and while here made the
BUSINESS AND INDUSTRIES 237
clocks that are today highly prized. We have learned of only
one of his tall grandfather clocks now preserved near the place
of its origin. The owner was reported in 1931 as Henry W.
Erving of Hartford,
Mrs, Charles H. Willcox, who formerly owned and occupied
the Chaffee House now a part of the Chaffee School, reports
that in this house was a beautiful grandfather's clock made
by Samuel Stiles of Windsor about 1795, A few years ago
this clock passed into the hands of a relative of Mrs. Willcox
and is now owned by Mr. Eugenia Dudley Levanger of Chicago.
Hats
Hat making was carried on about 1800 and later by
Almerin Gillet, who lived in the house on Palisado Avenue
now known as the Timothy Phelps homestead. His shop was
in the rear of the house. Apparently his enterprise was suc-
cessful. Among his family records are such items as the fol-
lowing :
Dec. 29, 1822.
By one hat for myself $7
January, 1823.
By one ditto for Griswold $7
May, 1824.
By one for Edwin $3
By one for Griswold 3.50
Oct. 28.
By one white hat $4
Almerin Gillet was an ardent Democrat. His brother-in-
law, Shem Stoughton, was a staunch Federalist. When Mr.
Gillet presented Mr, Stoughton with a new hat he accompanied
his gift with the following rime:
"Here's your new hat. Sir,
Made of skunks and cats. Sir,"
and promptly received the following acknowledgment:
"Yes, I see that, Sir,
Made by a Democrat, Sir."
At about the same time that Mr. Gillet was making hats
on Palisado Avenue, William Shelton was engaged in hat mak-
ing in a shop that stood on Mill Brook a short distance north
238 OLD WINDSOR
of East Street, and which now stands in the yard adjoining
the house built by Mr. Shelton in 1830.
For several years the business was operated under the
name of Pease & Shelton, then in the name of William Shelton
until the late fifties almost to the time of Mr. Shelton's death.
They made the familiar top hats that were then in gen-
eral demand covered with otter, beaver, or nutria (a beaver-
like South American animal). Their output went mainly to
hat dealers in New York, Philadelphia, and New England
cities.
The following letter, one of hundreds pertaining to the
business, which are now in the possession of Miss Helen L.
Hudson, shows the general method of distributing the output
of the shop.
New York, Oct. 10/48
Dear Sir,
Your bundle of 50 hats has just come to
hand. ... I enclose you One Hundred
Dolls. . . . You may send me 50 prime hats
early in Nov.
Yrs.
Matthew Bird.
Paper Making
Paper making was begun at Poquonock, which then
signified that section of the town now known as Elm Grove,
a short time prior to 1827. In September of that year a letter
written by David Marshall says that plans were being made to
enlarge the business. Richard Niles was the original promoter
of the enterprise, but he soon found a partner and the busi-
ness was run under the firm name of Niles & Marshall until
it was purchased by Samuel 0. Hollister.
At first it was a paper mill, then silk sewing thread was
manufactured for several years, and finally the factory became
a saw-mill and grist-mill under the management of Alexander
Clapp, who retired from the management about 1860. After
that date the factory gradually fell into decay.
Another paper mill was built at an early date on the
Mill Brook on land owned by James Loomis a short distance
south of the present home of James H. Burns on Pigeon Hill.
BUSINBSlS AND INiDUSTRIBS 2X9
No record of the business carried on here is known to exist
but several of the older residents recall the fact that their
fathers and mothers told them vivid stories of the fire that
destroyed the mill shortly before the Civil War and that one
person died from exposure at the fire. The remains of the
foundation walls and the old dam nearby indicate that the
plant was of considerable importance.
Beginning at Rainbow
Rainbow's first manufacturing project ended in failure.
In 1803 Roger Griswold built a dam and a mill and planned
a large enterprise under the name of the Rainbow Mills. A
freshet carried away his dam almost as soon as it was con-
structed.
The Congress Mill
The Congress Mills at Rainbow were incorporated Febru-
ary 21, 1835, for the purpose of making and dealing in paper.
Their capital stock was $25,000. Daniel Burgess was the first
president, and Lucien B. Hanks, GriflSn A. Stedman, and
Charles I. Gilbert were the first board of directors. This firm
later became the Springfield Paper Company. Still later it
was owned by the Vernon Brothers, who manufactured tissue
paper, using for that purpose the Harper machines. On
October 31, 1918, the Vernon Brothers sold this mill and other
property to the Farmington River Power Company, builders
of the Farmington River Dam at Rainbow, and the buildings
were soon demolished.
The Stevens Paper Mills, Inc.
One paper mill at Rainbow started as a cotton factory
and was transformed and adapted to the manufacture of
paper. Messrs. Soper and Clark occupied it for a time. Ttien
it became the property of George W. Hodge and later passed
into the hands of his nephew, George J. Merwin, who on
January 16, 1916, transferred the title to the Merwin Paper
Company. The leading product of this company was press
board. On October 25, 1922, the Merwin Paper Company sold
the property to the Stevens Paper Mills, Inc., who now carry
.on the business.
240 OLD WINDSOR
The Denslow Wire Mill
Denslow's Wire Mill was another Rainbow factory that
changed its character and became a paper mill. This factory,
after passing into the hands of George L. Hodge, manufac-
tured tissue paper used mainly by railroad offices for copying
purposes. From Mr. Hodge the property passed into the pos-
session of the Vernon Brothers, who continued the manufac-
ture of tissue until October 31, 1918, when the property was
sold to the Farmington River Power Company and the build-
ings demolished.
The Hartford Paper Company
December 16, 1873, a paper mill at Rainbow, which until
that date had been owned and operated by Leverett Brainard
& Company was sold to the Hartford Paper Company, who
operated it in conjunction with their Poquonock Mill until
December 26, 1917, when they sold it to the Stanley Works
of New Britain, by whom it was transferred January 26, 1926,
to the Farmington River Power Company, by whom the build-
ings were soon demolished.
The Franklin Mills
The Franklin Mills Company was incorporated on Febru-
ary 6, 1838 as a paper mill with a capital stock of $68,500.
Dudley Buck was the first president, and Whiting H. HoHister,
Elisha Colt, and Elijah C. Kellogg were named as "a majority
of the directors." This company, which was then owned by
Leverett Brainard & Co., was sold on December 16, 1873, tO'
the Hartford Paper Company, who manufactured writing,,
book, and cover papers until December 30, 1918, when they
sold the property to the Paper Makers, Incorporated. On
December 10, of the following year, Ward J. Atwood, receiver
for the new company, sold the property to the Valley Paper
Company of Holyoke, who dismantled the mill and removed
the machinery to their plant in Holyoke. The mill was later
demolished.
The Hatheway Cotton Mill
Amos M. Hatheway came from Sufheld to Poquonock in
1812, when 19 years of age, to "engage in the manufacture of
BUSINESS AND INDUSTRIES
241
cotton goods, an industry then in its infancy. Some years
later — in 1827, probably, judging- from statements contained
in a letter written by David Marshall in that year — he built
a three-story brick factory on the north side of River Street
connected by an underground shaft to a wheelhouse on the
bank of the Farmington and there engaged in the manufac-
ture of cotton batting, lamp wicks, and twine until his death
in 1854, which resulted from over-exertion in an effort to save
his dam from a freshet.
No other large enterprise was again carried on in this
plant. For a time it was a toy making establishment. Box
making was also carried on for a time. Then it was a stock
house, ice house, and storehouse for miscellaneous products
until it was torn down in 1934.
The Tunxis Mill
The Tunxis Company for the manufacture of cotton and
woolen goods was incorporated at Poquonock on November
28, 1848, with a capital stock of $26,000. John M. Niles was
the first president. Calvin Day, Austin Dunham, and James
G. Bolles were the "majority of directors."
In 1873 Austin Dunham and Sons of Hartford began the
manufacture of worsted yarns in this mill, which was greatly
enlarged in 1875.
THE TUNXIS MILL AT POQUONOCK
S42 OLD WINDSOR
In 1880 Mr. Dunham took over another mill, the Poquo-
nock Mill, which had been built in 1856 and used as a woolen
mill. This mill stood on the left bank of the Farming-ton at
the north end of the Poquonock Bridge. These combined
plants were org^anized as the Tunxis Worsted Company.
The Health Underwear Company
In 1887 the Dunham's organized the Health Underwear
Company for the manufacture of Warner Brothers' health
garments. Two years later under the management of
Alphonse H. Brothers the old Tunxis Mill was designated as
Mill No. 2 of the Dunham Company and made worsted yarns
for the use of the underwear department at the Poquonock
Mill and for the general market.
About 1902 or 1903 the name of the firm was changed to
the Dunham Hosiery Company and changed shortly before
the World War to the Dunham Mills, Inc. About 1928 the
mills ceased to operate.
For a short time the Twarkins Furniture Company occu-
pied the Poquonock Mill but eventually both this and the
Tunxis Mill were sold to the Farmington River Power Com-
pany and both will probably soon disappear.
The Sequassen Woolen Company
March 1, 1853, the Windsor Knitting and Manufacturing
Company was organized at Windsor Center, and built its
factory a short distance east of the present railroad station.
Its purpose was the manufacture of wool and cotton goods.
Its capital stock was $25,000.
Edgar Loomis was the first president, who with Samuel
O. Loomis, N. H. Barber, and E. N. Phelps comprised a
majority of the directors.
On May 14, 1855, the company was reorganized under the
name of the Sequassen Woolen Company, with William S.
Pierson, president, and Samuel 0. Loomis, E. N. Phelps, and
D. S. Rowland the principal directors. When this building
was destroyed by fire in 1873 a new building was erected on
the site where it had stood and in this new building the
Spencer Arms Company later manufactured its famous rifles.
(See sketch of Christopher M. Spencer.)
BUSINESS AiND INDUSTRIES 243
The Eddy Electric Manufacturing Company
The Eddy Electric Manufacturing Company was incorpor-
ated August 31, 1885, at Windsor Center for the purpose of
manufacturing "dynamos and other machinery and apparatus
adapted to or connected with electro plating." Arthur H. Eddy
was made president and Arthur D. Newton, treasurer.
This company occupied the shop that had previously been
occupied by the Spencer Arms Company. Mr. Eddy, the presi-
dent, soon achieved an enviable reputation as an inventor and
his firm became widely known. Outstanding among his con-
tributions to the advancement of electrical industry were the
Eddy Dynamo and the Dynamo Electric Machine for Electro-
plating and Electrotyping.
By 1891 the growth of his business necessitated the en-
largement of his plant and his shop was extended to the north
doubling its capacity. At the World's Fair in Chicago two
years later the products of this factory formed one of the out-
standing exhibits. They included a moving platform on which
visitors were transported around the fair grounds.
Financial conditions brought the company under the con-
trol of the General Electric Company in 1902 and in 1910 the
Eddy Company sold its rights and land to the General Electric
Company, which continued to manufacture the line of genera-
tors and electrical products that Mr. Eddy had helped to
develop.
The General Electric Company
In 1920 the General Electric Company built a large addi-
tion to the rear of its plant and made Arthur A. Bailey, who
for many years had been the acting manager, manager and
superintendent of its large Windsor enterprise which con-
tinued to operate until 1928 when the business was moved to
Lynn, Massachusetts, and combined with the company's plant
in that city.
The Windsor plant was sold to the Pierre Lorillard Com-
pany, who have since used it as a warehouse for their tobacco
business.
244 OLD WINDSOR
The Best Manufacturing Company
This company which was organized June 25, 1869, with
Wilham R, Best as president, carried on the business of manu-
facturing cigars in a wooden building which stood on the site
now occupied by the Tunxis Theater on Central Street.
The Windsor Collar and Cuff Company
The business of making waterproof collars, cuffs, neckties,
shirt fronts, belts, and other useful and ornamental articles
was established at Windsor by Fred H. Tolles on July 5, 1897.
Mr. Tolles had organized his company in Hartford on April 13,
1895, and carried on the business for two years on Asylum
Street before coming to Windsor. In Windsor his first quar-
ters were in the Academy building on the corner of Broad and
Union Streets. Then he purchased land from the estate of
the late H. Sidney Hayden on Union Street, where the district
fire station now stands, and built a factory for his business,
which was continued until about 1912, when his company was
dissolved and he transformed his factory into a laundry.
In 1898 Mr. Tolles went to Chicago and established an-
other factory for the manufacture of his products with G. I.
Watson as a partner. July 24, 1902, the company incorporated
with a capital stock of $35,000, and Mr. Tolles as president,
G. I. Watson, secretary, and Roland H. Tiffany, treasurer. All
his goods were distributed thru agents of whom he employed
for a time as many as one thousand.
The Farmington River Power Company
The Ancient Town added to its reputation as a pioneer
when in 1889 it started building at Oil City on the Farmington
River some distance above Rainbow a plant for generating
electric energy to furnish light and power.
The little frame construction powerhouse, whose water
wheels operated turbines, started generating current in 1890
and in 1893 the Hartford Electric Light Company began trans-
mitting three-phase alternating current at between four and
five thousand volts from the hydro-electric station at Oil City
to the company's State Street Station in Hartford where its
steam power plant was located. The power transmitted was
BUSIiN-BSS A;ND INDUSTRIBS 245
reckoned at three hundred kilowatts and was used to operate
the first polyphase motor built by what is now known as the
General Electric Company. This is the first instance in this
country of long- distance transmission of electric current by
any public utility company.
The close relation existing in its early days between this
power company and the Hartford Electric Light Company is
shown by the fact that Austin C. Dunham, its first president,
was also for a time president of the Hartford Electric Light
Company. Among the engineers who helped to plan and pro-
mote this enterprise were William L. Robb, then a professor
at Trinity College, E. W. Rice, later chief engineer and then
president of the General Electric Company, and Charles P.
Steinmetz, who achieved world-wide fame for his later elec-
trical work with the General Electric Company.
Among the local men who were prominently identified
with the Oil City enterprise was Fred M. Wilbraham, who
became superintendent of the station in 1895 and later was
made consulting engineer of the Hartford Electric Light
Company.
On Labor Day, 1896, the little power station was destroyed
by fire. However, with the utmost speed a new station was
built, this time of brick, and equipped with improved machin-
ery. For twenty years the powder company supplied its product
to the Hartford Electric Light Company. When the contract
that had called for this service expired the company supplied
power to the Stanley Works of New Britain. A little later the
Stanley Works secured a controlling interest in the company,
which had failed to keep pace in growth and development with
the needs of the New Britain plant, and a larger and up-to-date
powerhouse was built at Rainbow Village and a new dam con-
structed at that location — a project spoken of as the ''million
dollar plant."
This plant now supplies current for the Stanley Works in
New Britain, sells energy to the Northern Connecticut Power
Company, and has high tension wires running to Rockville
and connecting with other places.
246 OLD WINDSOR
The Anchor Mill
In the early years of the nineteenth century, especially
after the construction of the Canal, the extreme northeastern
part of Old Windsor offered more attractions for manufactur-
ing industries than other parts of the town. Consequently
that part of the town, which, in 1854, became the Town of
Windsor Locks, is more predominately a manufacturing center
than any part of the Windsor of today. But not all of the
early industries have survived.
The first paper mill at "the Locks" was built in 1832 by
Samuel Williams of Hartford. It started operations in the
spring of 1833. In 1837 this mill passed into the hands of
a newly organized company known as the Windsor Manufac-
turing Company. Later the ownership passed to Alonzo S.
Beckwith of Hartford.
March 7, 1844, the property was sold to Dudley Persse
and Horace Brooks, who, under the name of the Anchor Mill,
made it one of the leading paper-making organizations of their
time.
In December, 1856, the mill was destroyed by fire. Within
a year it had been rebuilt and was in operation and for many
years it furnished the New York Herald with its printing
paper. In 1857 it was said to be the largest paper mill in the
world. Copying tissues became its specialty in more recent
years.
The Seymour Mill
This mill was on the Canal bank a short distance above
the railroad station. Starting in 1859 it went thru many
changes and enlargement and was one of the best known paper
mills in New England. Finally the ownership passed into the
hands of the American Writing Paper Company, who, in 1930,
closed the mill and transferred its business to Holyoke, Massa-
chusetts.
In its early years this mill was noted for the fact that it
made paper almost exclusively from rags imported from Egypt
in sailing boats and tramp steamers, which brought them in
five or ten thousand ton lots.
BUSINESS AND INDUSTRIES 247
C. H. Dexter & Sons
In 1836 Charles Haskell Dexter began the manufacture
of paper in the basement of a grist-mill, which had been built
by the Dexter family many years earlier. A new mill was
built in 1847 and many changes and enlargements have been
made in later years and the plant still operates under the name
of C. H. Dexter & Sons making products that are in great
demand and supply an extensive market.
Holbrook's Globes
Charles W. Holbrook's globes built for many years until
about 1900 in a brick factory beside the Kettle Brook on Center
Street were extensively used in public and private schools.
Outstanding Plants Today
Other large plants that date back a generation or more
and are still operating include the Medlicott Company, which
has made fine knit underwear since 1864, and the J. R. Mont-
gomery Company, where novelty yarns and threads are pro-
duced. This company was the first in the country to place
upon the market mercerized cotton yarn. In the manufacture
of their products they use practically every known workable
fiber, as well as gold, silver, and copper tinsel, gtass, and
chemical compounds.
Another outstanding factory is that of the George P.
Clark Company, now run by George E. Clark, which has an
international fame as the producer of hand, platform, and
special trucks, patent rubber and iron wheel casters, ventilat-
ing and exhaust fans, and machinery for paper manufacturers.
Persons of Note
The following are a few among the many sketches that
might be written of men and women who, have contributed
conspicuously to the life and progress of Ancient Windsor.
WILLIAM HOLMES
It is to be regretted that Windsor knows but little of the
life of the man who led the band of pioneers who came to make
the First English Settlement in Connecticut. His part in that
enterprise has already been told in the first chapter of this
book.
We have sought to learn his later history and find the fol-
lowing few facts on record. Two years after laying the founda-
tion of his Windsor Settlement he was back in Massachusetts
near his former home and was engaged to give military train-
ing to the men cf Duxbury. Tho he led a peaceful enterprise
in the Connecticut Valley he was preeminently a military man.
In the Pequot War he was an officer but details of his
service are lacking. His record is not found in Windsor but in
Plymouth and it seems almost certain that he commanded
Plymouth troops who cooperated with those from Connecticut.
When the Pequot War was over Holmes was back in
Windsor and in 1638 he was the responsible head of the little
band of Plymouth settlers, who complained that Sachem
Aramamett and his tribe were encroaching upon the land that
they desired to occupy. The General Court authorized him
to supervise the removal of the Indians to their former home
near the present Aramamett Street at Wilson.
On May 3, 1638, Holmes was acting as attorney and man-
ager of the Plymouth settlement and he sold the Plymouth
Trading House and all the land still owned by New Plymouth
to Matthew Allyn of Hartford. There is no further record
of his residence in Windsor.
He went to England and again became a soldier in the
British army. His stay in England was short. In 1649 he
had returned to Massachusetts and his death at Boston is
250 OLD WINDSOR
recorded on the 12th day of November of that year. He left
a will which showed that he owned a farm in Scituate a few
miles from the home of his Plymouth friends. When he led
the settlers of New Plymouth (Windsor) in 1633 he was known
as Lieutenant Holmes. At the time of his death he had won
promotion in rank and was mentioned as Major William
Holmes.
ROGEiR LUDLOW
Among the settlers who came from Dorchester, Massa-
chusetts, to Windsor in 1635, Roger Ludlow stands out as by
far the most eminent man. He was a lawyer and as suqh he
was probably the most learned and distinguished of all the
lawyers who came to Connecticut during his generation.
He was born in England. His baptismal record was dated
March 7, 1590, at Dinton, Wiltshire. A;t the age of twenty he
entered Balliol College at Oxford in 1610 and two years later
began the study of law in the Inner Temple. He became one
of the assistants of the Massachusetts Bay Company in 1630
and sailed with other officers of the company and with the Rev.
John Warham's party from Plymouth on the Mary and John
for Dorchester, Massachusetts, where they arrived on May 80
of that year.
At once he entered upon his duties as a member of the
court of assistants and continued to serve in that capacity for
the next four years. His ability and legal knowledge won im-
mediate recognition and by 1634 he had risen to the position
of deputy governor of the Massachusetts Bay colony and looked
forward to occupying the governor's chair. The following'
year he was disappointed when John Haynes was elected gov-
ernor. This disappointment along with other influences turned
his attention strongly toward Connecticut, to which many of
his friends and associates had for months contemplated mov-
ing. He decided to go with them.
He did not sympathize with the church restrictions that
prevailed in Massachusetts. He chafed under the ecclesiastical
domination that maintained that none but church members
ought to vote. He sympathized with Thomas Hooker, who
PERSONS OF NOTE 251
had vig-orously set forth the doctrine of democracy in church
and state as opposed to the aristocracy of the Bay colony.
Early in 1635 he was on his way thru the wilderness to
seek a new settlement on the bank of the Connecticut. He
became the leading influence in the establishment of another
Dorchester, now Windsor. He was one of the commissioners
appointed to govern the new river settlements for a period of
one year and in this capacity presided over the first General
Court, which met at Hartford on April 26, 1636. In the chap-
ter of this book that deals with the formation of the first con-
stitution of Connecticut in 1639 his great service to Connecti-
cut and the world in connection with that document is told and
also his service in drafting the Ludlow Code of 1650 and as a
member of the board of commissioners that directed the affairs
of the New England Confederacy, which he was instrumental
in forming in 1643.
In 1639 he left Windsor for a time to explore the beautiful
region of Fairfield, thru which as a soldier in the Pequot War
he had pursued the fleeing Indians two years earlier. Here he
chose a site for a future home, drove some cattle there, and laid
out some lots of land "for himself and others," In 1640 fol-
lowed by several families from Windsor he moved to Fairfield.
His rival, John Haynes, had followed him to Connecticut and
joined the Hartford settlement, where his popularity resulted
in his being chosen the first governor under the new constitu*
tion, while Roger Ludlow, chief of those who had drafted that
constitution, took the subordinate position of deputy governor.
Disappointment over this outcome is believed to have had its
influence in driving him to his new home far to the south of
Windsor and of Hartford.
Here he remained until 1654. In a real sense he was the
"Father of Fairfield." Every year he was elected one of the
town's magistrates. He was the judge of the Fairfield court
and the commander of the Fairfield militia. In 1642 and again
in 1648 he was elected deputy governor of Connecticut and four
times he was made a commissioner of the New England Con-
federacy.
As a military commander he came into conflict with the
civil authority at Hartford. Fairfield, tho far to the south of
252 OLD WINDSOR
New Haven, was under the jurisdiction of the Connecticut
colony, from which its early settlers had come. Hence, when
Fairfield and its neighbor, Stamford, were menaced by hostile
Indians in 1654, Ludlow looked to Connecticut for approval of
his plan to attack the Dutch at New Netherlands, who were
believed to be the real instigators of the Indian hostilities.
Connecticut did not approve the plan. Ludlow next appealed
to New Haven for assistance and was refused. In desperation
Fairfield and Stamford determined to raise their own little
army and fight their own war under the leadership of Ludlow.
This brought protest and criticism from both Connecticut and
New Haven. Irritated and disappointed Ludlow decided to
move again. Disposing of his property he went with his family
to pay a visit to his brother George at Yorktown, Virginia.
A few months later he was in Ireland and on November
3, 1654, he was appointed by Cromwell a member of the commis-
sion for "receiving, hearing, and determining of claims in or to
forfeited lands in Ireland." On December 18 of the same year
he was appointed a commissioner for the administration of
justice in Dublin, He was evidently living in Dublin ten years
later, where it is recorded: "1664, June 3. Burial, Mary
Ludlow, Wife of Roger Ludlow, Esq." There the record ends.
In the words of a biographer, "No authority yet seen records
his death or points to his grave."
JOHN MASON
John Mason's story so far as it relates to Windsor is
largely outlined in the story of the Pequot War, but the colony
of Connecticut had further use for his services and he was soon
made "the public military officer of the Plantations of Con-
necticut," with a salary of 40 pounds a year, and given the
title of "Major." For thirty-five years he was the drill-master
for all the troops in the Colony.
In 1647 he was sent to command the most important
defensive position in Connecticut — the fort at Saybrook. Here
for five years he was virtually dictator of the town. Later he
served as Deputy Governor and as one of the Commissioners
of the New England Colonies.
PEKSONiS OF NOTE 253
Having helped to establish Windsor and Saybrook he
became one of the founders of Norwich and died there in 1672.
MATTHEW ALLYN
During the thirty years from 1640 to 1670 the Hon,
Matthew Allyn, as he came to be called, Was Windsor's most
eminent "man of affairs." Born at Brampton, Devonshire,
England, he migrated to Charlestown, Massachusetts, where
in 1633 he had 49 acres of land allotted to him — a much
larger share than went to any other settler. Two years later
he owned five houses in Cambridge and was the largest land-
owner in that town. Energetic, persistent, and ambitious for
broader opportunities, he followed the first settlers to Hart-
ford, where he settled on what is now Windsor Street and be-
came a large landowiner and the proprietor of the first mill in
Hartford, which stood at the foot of Pearl street.
In 1638 he purchased the Plymouth Trading House in
Windsor, together with all the lands "houses, servants, goods,
and chattels" then owned by the original group of Plymouth
colonists. He soon established his home near the site of the
Trading House and became one of the leading citizens of
Windsor. He represented Windsor in the General Court,
except in 1653, every year from 1648 to 1658. He was a mag-
istrate of the Colony ten years, from 1657 to 1667. From 1660
to 1664 he was one of Connecticut's Commissioners to the New
England Confederacy. In 1661 he was moderator of the com-
mittee that petitioned King Charles the Second for a charter
and when the charter was granted the next year Matthew
Allyn was named one of the grantees.
Until his death in 1670 he was constantly called upon to
discharge public duties of dignity and importance and he re-
ceived many honors and tokens of appreciation from the
people of his home town and the citizens of his state.
His son John held many prominent positions of trust and
honor in the city of Hartford, which he selected as his home,
his grandson Matthew was a Judge of the Superior Court of
Connecticut, and other descendants have been prominent in
public affairs.
254 OLD WINDSOR
MATTHEW GRANT
When one studies the early records of Windsor the num-
ber of public services of Matthew Grant make him the best
known of all the pioneers. He was a member of the original
company that came to America on the Mary and John, lived for
a time at Dorchester, Mass., and then came to Matianuck,
later Dorchester, now Windsor. He was the second town clerk,
compiled the records of both town and church, was a land
surveyor whose services seem to have been in great demand.
His records are a priceless treasure to the student of Windsor
history.
His descendants have been prominent and influential in
the public and professional life of many states, preeminent
among them being the Reverend Roland D. Grant, noted
preacher, lecturer, and social reformer; Frank Grant, a lead-
ing business man of Westfield, Massachusetts ; General Ulysses
S. Grant, President of the United States, and his distinguished
family.
ROGER WODOOTT
The school at Wilson, one of the largest schools in Wind-
sor, is named in honor of a man who never attended any school
as a pupil even for a single day. Yet the Roger Wolcott S;chool
was not named for a man who was uneducated. Roger Wolcott
tells .in his own account of his life how it happened that he
never had an opportunity to go to school. It was not because
his parents did not value education. Both his father and his
mother belonged to families distinguished for learning and
culture. Simon Wolcott, his father, was the son of Henry
Wolcott, one of the most distinguished of the Dorchester party
that came to Windsor in 1635. His mother, Martha Pitkin, was
the sister of William Pitkin, Attorney-General and Treasurer
of Connecticut. In intellect and culture she ranked with the
best in the colony. If these parents did not send their son to
school there was a good reason for the seeming neglect.
The fact is that he had no school to attend. After their
marriage, October 17, 1661, his parents lived for about ten
years on the "Island" near the present location of the Loomis
PERSONS OF NOTE 255
School. They owned land where they lived and also on the
east side of the Connecticut River. In 1671 they moved to
the new settlement at Simsbury. Here they prospered until
1675, when King Philip's War drove them back to Windsor.
Their home and buildings in Simsbury were burned. They
rented a house in Windsor and there Roger was born January
4, 1679. At that time, as he tells us in his autobiography, his
"father's outward estate was at the lowest ebb." A year later
they moved to South Windsor and established their home on
the two hundred-acre farm that they had retained when they
sold their Island property before going to Simsbury.
In South W:ndsor they had few neighbors and no church
.and no school. The little boy and his brothers and sisters
were taught their first lessons by their parents at home.
When Roger was eight years old his father died and two years
later his mother became the wife of Daniel Clark, Esq., of Old
"Windsor, whose home was at Wilson. Here Mr. Clark owned
land in the vicinity of the present Wilson School and it seems
almost certain that little Roger played with other children
on the very spot where the schoolhouse stands. When he
liad become a famous man it was most appropriate that his
name should be given to the school where he had lived.
Roger Wolcott tells us that in 1690 his "mind turned to
learning." His mother and his stepfather were his teachers.
He was an apt scholar and advanced rapidly. When he was
about fifteen years old he was apprenticed to a "clothier" and
remained with him five years. He now read all the books he
could borrow and having a remarkable memory he was soon
well informed.
His ability was recognized and public honors came rap-
idly. He was chosen selectman for the town of Windsor in
1707. His home was now on the east side of the river where
heJiad gone to live after his marriage in 1702. In 1709 Wind-
;Sor sent him as a Representative to the General Assembly.
The next year he was made a Judge. Then he went with
the New England Expedition to Canada in Queen Anne's War
.and was Commissary for the Connecticut troops. In 1714 he
.^became a member of the upper branch of the General Assembly.
2i56 OLD WINDSOR
1721 saw him a Judge of the County Court and in 1732 he was
promoted and made a Judge of the Superior Court.
Ten years later, 1742, he became Deputy-Governor and
then Chief Judge of the Superior Court. In 1745 he went
again to Canada, This time he was a Major General and led
the Connecticut troops in their successful expedition against
Cape Breton. In the great attack on Louisburg he was second
in command of the United Colonial Forces and when the
fortress surrendered he became the hero not alone of Windsor
but of all Connecticut.
His next honor came when he was chosen Governor, in
which office he served three years. When engaged in the
public service he was the most striking and impressive char-
acter that Connecticut had ever seen. He wore a flowing wig,
a three-cornered hat with a cockade, and a suit of scarlet
broadcloth with gilt buttons and long gilt vellum buttonholes.
Everyone was impressed with his dignity and authority.
His term of office was marred by one misfortune. A
Spanish ship in distress took refuge in New London harbor
and during its stay there much of its valuable cargo was
wasted by bad management on the part of those in charge of
the ship. A report was circulated by political rivals that the
Governor had treated the Spaniards unjustly and extorted
large sums from the owner of the cargo. This report caused
his defeat at the next election. A full investigation showed
the Governor blameless, but the incident saddened his later
years.
He died at the home of his daughter Elizabeth, wife of
Captain Roger Newberry, in Old Windsor, May 17, 1767.
JONATHAN EDWARDS
Jonathan Edwards, probably the most distinguished the-
ologian that America has produced, was born in Windsor (in
the present town of South Windsor) October 5, 1703. Prepared
for college by his father he entered Yale and graduated before
he was seventeen years old. He then studied theology for two
years and began preaching first in New York City, then in
Bolton, Connecticut. From 1724 to 1726 he was a tutor at
PERSONS OF NOTE 257
Yale. Next he went to Northampton, Massachusetts, as asso-
ciate to his grandfather. Rev. Samuel Stoddard. After the
death of his grandfather in 1729 Mr. Edwards continued the
work of his church alone and under his administration in
1734 occurred one of the most extraordinary religious revivals
in American history.
Fifteen years later his opposition to certain practices and
beliefs current among his people led to so much dissension
that he was dismissed from his church. In 1751 he accepted
two invitations — one to, become pastor of the church in Stock-
bridge, Massachusetts, and the other to become a missionary
to the Housatonic Indians, who then lived in the vicinity of
Stockbridge. In this double capacity he carried on a most
arduous work until 1758 and also found time to write two books
that made his name famous in America and in Europe. Their
titles were "Original Sin" and the "Freedom of the Will."
During his busy years at Northampton and Stockbridge
he preached many sermons in churches elsewhere and some
of these attracted the attention of the whole country. Per-
haps the most famous of all was the sermon preached at
Enfield in 1741 entitled "Sinners in the Hajids of an Angry
God." His name became almost a synonym for strictness
and severity. His genius and brilliancy of thought and imagi-
nation place him among mtellectuals of the highest rank.
In January, 1758, he was inaugurated President of Prince-
ton College. Small pox was prevalent at the time and he was
inoculated for protection, but inoculation, then in its infancy,
was little understood and sometimes proved as fatal as the
small pox. It proved so in this case and as a result Jonathan
Edwards died two months after assuming office as president of
Princeton.
JOHN FITOH, THE SOLDIEIR
Windsor knows little about the history of John Fitch the
soldier, except the fact that he became one of the earliest
benefactors of the cause of education and is today beloved
by all the high school boys and girls of the town. Left a
widower by the death of his wife August 11, 1673, and having
238
OLD WINDSOR
JOHN FITOH
From the Painting- by Ruel Crompton Tuttle
PERSONS OF NOTE 259
no children of his own he took a fatherly interest in all the
children of his town and when the Indians under the leadership
of King Philip of Rhode Island invaded Connecticut John Fitch
at once enlisted as a soldier in the war to defend the English
settlers and their homes and made the following will, which
manifested his love of children and his interest in their
education :
These may Testifie
That I John ffitch of Windsor being to goe forth
and know not that I may return : Doe desire
to Committ my soule to God
As for that smal estat God hath given me I
dispose as followeth first that my Just debt be
paid out of it The rest both land and goods
I give to the promoting of a scoole heere
in Windsor to be dispose of in the best way
as the County Court and select men of the
Town shall see meet for the end aforesd
In witnesse to the above sd I here to set my
hand this 30 day of August, 1675
(x) the mark of
John ffitch
Wittnes
John moore s^"""
John Higley
Fitch was wounded in the famous Swamp Fight with the
Indians and returned to Windsor, where he died May 9, 1676.
His estate as shown by the following inventory was small
but it laid the foundation of the Union School Fund which has
been used for more than two centuries and a half to help sup-
port higher education in Windsor.
John Fitch Inventory 1676
Juen ye 1 1 76 j
Decon Moore, John loomys, Mr. Thomas Allyn,
mathew grant, meet to take account of what
estat of John Fitches was to be found to be his,
he dyed May 9, 1676 that littell estat presented
to us to be his wee took acount of it as followeth
260 OLD WINDSOR
A dwelling howse that was Thomas Rowlyes
which by exchang with John Fitch for land
Thomas had of John fitch to
have his howse & land to it two parcles 8 acrees
& half . here in Windsor, ye valuat ion of it
for Inventory, was seet at 30- 0-0
And sume land one ye east sid ye great river
begining halfe a mile from ye river runing easterly
two miles an half, 16 rod in bredth riseth to 80
acres set at 04- 0-0
34- 0-0
sume f ewe movables at Mr. Thomas Allyns howse
not expresing here en eny partickler as we have
in booke, all together as prised came to 05-12-0
moore things at ye howse where he dyed, where
georg Jeffrey lives, or Mr. allyns howse all things
these sumed to gether as prised to 04- 6-0
also fower hamers presented at another place 00- 5-0
there is due to ye stat from ye cuntrey rat, for
his going a soulger to warr, & his cuntrey rat
payd 01-18-0
46- 1-0
Witness
Mathew Grant
John Loomys
Debtes Demanded to be payed out of ye estat
Mr. Wolcot srs demands — 0-4s- 0
Mr. Thomas Allyn for
rent & diat demands — 2-13- 6
Decon moore demands — 1- 2-10
John moore demands — 0-2-6
Tahan grant — 0-7-6
James enno demands — 0-5-0
Thomas Deble sr — 0-6-0
William Buell — 0-16- 0
Sara buell for Riting — 0-3-0
Abram Randall — 0-3-0
PElRSONS of note 261
0-
2-
4
0-
■ 2-
7
0-
6-
0
0-
3-
0
2-
0-
0
1-
15-
0
0xl6x
0
0-
5-
0
0-
0-
6
0-
2-
0
0-
1-
11
0-
9-
0
0-
2-
6
0-
2-
6
Thomas loomas _
leftnant fylar _
Robard Hayward _
Jams Rising _
Edward meseng-er —
James Hiller _
his relations
nicolas evens
Semual Bissel demands —
Ebenezer Parsons
John Hegly for suger —
Josep Griswold -
Cornelus gillet _
John Porter srs demands —
12-11-8
In 1921 Windsor erected a new high school building and in
honor of the town's benefactor named the school which it
shelters the John Fitch High School. Over the main entrance
to the school a relief bust of Fitch is chiseled in stone and
within the lo-bby of the school hangs a life size decorative por-
trait done by Windsor's well-known artist, Ruel Crompton
Tuttle, representing Fitch having signed his will and about
"to goe forthe" to the Indian War in which he lost his life.
The following song, written by Miss C. Louise Dickerman,
Director of school music for Windsor, is sung at school gradu-
ations and alumni reunions.
School Song
(Tune, Auld Lang Syne)
To you, dear Windsor High, we sing
Our song of grateful praise.
Within your walls we work and play
Spend many happy days.
We're forming friendships fond and true
We're learning to bestow
A friendly smile, a helping hand
As on through life we go.
26.2 OLD WINDSOR
Long years ago from this old town
Went forth a soldier brave,
Who died for us, and for our school
His modest fortune gave.
He understood that knowledge, truth
And education rule
And so with gratitude sincere
For him we've named our school.
And when in years to. coipe we leave
Our Alma Mater dear.
We'll thank with those who've helped us all,
John Fitch whom we revere.
We'll sing his praises one and all
And in unbroken band,
Pledge loyalty to Windsor High
To God and Native Land.
JOHN FITCH, THE INVEINTOiR
On January 21, 1743, there was born in the town of
Windsor a boy who became one of the greatest inventors in
the world. He was named John Fitch. He lived on the east
side of the Connecticut River in the part of Windsor which is
now the town of South Windsor. Here he had an opportunity
to watch the sailing vessels that went up and down the Con-
necticut. If the wind ceased to blow the vessels could not move
but must wait until the wind came again. John Fitch began
to wonder if ships could not be built that would sail when
there was no wind. Years later he determined to try to build
one that should go by steam.
He received a better education than most boys of his
time. He went to a "dame school" when he was about four
and one—half years old and continued regularly until he was
ten years of age. When he was thirteen years old his father
allowed him to attend school again for six months in order to
learn mathematics and surveying. At the age of fifteen he
went to work for Roswell Mills, a storekeeper at Simsbury, for
eleven shillings a month. Later he learned clock-making, the
work of a silver smith, and engineering. In 1769 he left
PERSONS OF NOTE 263
Windsor carrying a bundle of clothing and having eight dollars
in his pocket. He served in the Revolutionary War and went
to live at Warminster, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Here
he did his first work in attempting to build a steamboat. He
made a model that actually ran on a nearby pond in Davisville,
Pennsylvania, in 1785. The boat had side wheels which were
driven by steam.
His first really successful steamboat was built at Phila-
delphia in 1786 and tested on the Delaware River, July 27, 1786.
A model of this boat is in the Smithsonian Institute at Wash-
ington, D. C. In the summer of 1787, Fitch launched another
boat on the Delaware River at Philadelphia.
This boat was forty-five feet long and its greatest width
was twelve feet. It had six oars or paddles on each side and
there was a small engine to drive the machinery that worked
these paddles.
It was the year 1787 and the great convention that assem-
bled to frame the constitution of the United States was then
in session. Nearly all the members of the convention came
down to the river's bank to see the strange boat. It moved
successfully up and down the river and all who saw it were
enthusiastic in its pra'se. But it was too slow to suit its inven-
tor and the next year he built a larger boat sixty feet in length.
This boat had its paddles placed at the stern. Its trial trip took
place October, 1788, when it steamed from Philadelphia to Bur-
lington, a distance of twenty miles, going up stream against the
current, carrying thirty passengers, and making the trip in
three hours and ten minutes.
At every toiwn and village along the route people greeted
the boat with cheers and waved their handkerchiefs as it
passed. It was a great day in the history of navigation, for
John Fitch had done what no one else had ever done anywhere
in the vv^orld. He had invented a successful steamboat and
changed the whole history of future navigation.
Fitch improved his boat, built a larger engine, and during
the summer of 1790 carried passengers regularly between Phil-
adelphia and Burlington. No sailing boat upon the river could
264 OLD WINDSOR
go as fast as his new steamboat and after a race in which the
steamboat passed every other vessel Fitch exclaimed "We reign
Lord High Admiral cf the Delaware."
The next year Congress granted him a patent for his new
and :mpcir(;ant invention. A few months later he went to
France intending to build another boat to show to the people of
Europe. A great revolution had broken out in France and
Fitch could get no mcney nor aid to build his boat. He left the
country and visited England, but deposited the plans cf his
boat w'th a friend, Aaron Vail, who was then United States
Consul at Lorient in France. Robert Fulton visited France
and had an oppdrtunity to see and study these plans. This
doubtless was of great aid to him in building the famous Cler-
mont several years later.
From England Fitch returned to Windsor in 1794. In
1796 he lived in New York City where he built another boat
with which he experimented on a pond near the city. From
New York he moved to Kentucky where he continued to make
experiments with a small model boat until his death.
He died at Bardstown, July 2, 1798, completely worn out
by his efforts to convince an unbelieving world that his steam-
boat was a practical invention.
On May 25, 1927, a national monument was unveiled in
his honor at Bardstown. Congress had appropriated fifteen
thousand dollars in 1925 to pay for this monument after having
declared by unanimous vote that John Fitch was the real
inventor of the world's first successful steamboat.
He died poor but he gave the world an invention which
has added vastly to the wealth of others. A short time before
his death he wrote to a friend, "This will be the mode of croiss-
ing the Atlantic in time whether I shall bring it to perfection
or not; steamboats will be preferred to all other conveyances
and they will be particularly useful in the navigation of the
Ohio and the Mississippi. The day will come when some more
poitent man will get fame and riches from my invention."
Connecticut numbers John Fitch among the sons whom
she loves to honor. In the capitol building at Hartford the
state has erected a bronze tablet to his memory and in South
PEiRSONS OF NOTE 265
Windsor the Admiral Bunce sectioji of the Navy League of the
United States has placed a marker to tell the world where he
was born.
DANIiElL MIARSHALL AND THE BAPTISTS
Daniel Marshall was born at Pigeon Hill in Windsor in
1706. He was educated for the service of the church and be-
came active in the office o,f deacon of the orthodox church
which his family attended. Having espoused the doctrines of
the Baptists he incurred the displeasure of his former friends
and associates in religious work and after hearing the preach-
ing of George Whitefield he decided to join the missionary
movement that was spreading with great enthusiasm over
much of New England and the colonies farther west. The
Indians were included in the plans of these missionaries and
Mr. Marshall became a leader among those who rushed toi the
Susquehanna region to convert the Mohawks. Their early
work gave promise of much success until war among the
Indians forced the removal of the missionaries to Conegoch-
eague, Pennsylvania.
From Pennsylvania Mr. Marshall went first to Winchester,
Virginia, then to Hughwarry, North Carolina. Later he was
in charge of the work of his church at Beaver Creek, South
Carolina. He next removed to Horse Creek, near Augusta,
Georgia. Frcm here he started out to visit pioneer settlements
in the interest of his work. The General Assembly of Georgia
had made the Church of England the legal Church establish-
ment of the province and when Mr. Marshall attempted to
preach to a congregation assembled in a beautiful grove he was
arrested for preaching contrary to the "rites and ceremonies of
the Church of England."
He stood trial, was condemned, and forbidden to preach
again in Georgia. In spite of this opposition he continued his
work and in 1771 founded the Kiokee Baptist Church at Ap-
pling, Columbia County, thus establishing the first Baptist
Church in Georgia.
The work of this man though little known to the present
generation in his home town is better understood in the South-
land, where millions have heard the story of the Rev. Daniel
Marshall, founder o£ the Southern Baptist Church.
266 OLD WINDSOR
O'LIVEE ELLSWORTH
Oliver Ellsworth was born in Windsor on April 29, 1746.
He prepared for college under the instruction of a tutor and
spent two years at Yale and two years at Princeton where
he graduated in 1766. He then studied theology for one year,
but preferring the profession of law turned his attention to the
study of that subject and was admitted to* the bar of Hartford
County in 1771. From 1772 to 1775 he resided in Wintonbury
and divided his time between farming and his chosen proi-
fession. In 1775 he sold his farm and devoted himself to. the
law at Hartford, where he rose rapidly to the position of one
of the mOiSt prominent leaders of the Connecticut bar. Before
the close of the year 1775 he was appointed State's Attorney.
At the beginning of the Revolutionary War he was chosen to
represent Windsor in the General Assembly. He was made ojie
of a committee of four men called "The Committee of the Pay
Table" whose chief duty it was to examine and settle all orders
for the payment of military expenses. Elected in 1777 he took
his seat in 1778 as one of Connecticut's six delegates to the
Second Continental Congress then in session at Philadelphia
and rendered many important services during the closing years
of the Revolutionary War and until his resignation as a mem-
ber of the Congress in June, 1783. The following year he be-
came Judge of the Supreme Court of Connecticut. Pour years
later his state sent him again to Philadelphia, this time as a
member of the conventioji that drafted our Federal Constitu-
tion. His pre-eminent ability was at once recognized by his
associates and he was one of the five men who guided the
essential deliberations of the convention and wrote the Consti-
tution itself.
When the national government was organized and put into
operation under the new Constitution Mr. Ellsworth became
one of the United States Senators from Connecticut and was
appointed chairman of the committee to organize the national
Judiciary. In this capacity he wrote the bill under whose
provisions with cnly slight changes our national tribunals have
carried on their great wor'k ever since their organization. In
1796 he was appointed by Washington Chief Justice of the
PERSONS OP NOTE
2.67
OLIVER ELLSWORTH
Supreme Court of the United States as successor to John Jay.
In this office he presided with dignity and ability. In 1799
President Adams sent him to Paris as one of three Envoys
Extraordinary and Ministers Plenipotentiary to adjust the se-
rious troubles that had arisen in the relations between France
and the United States. Mainly through his efforts war with
France was averted and all questions in dispute were adjusted
in a spirit of friendship. In 1801 he returned to his home in
Windsor with his health seriously impaired by his arduous
public duties. He was soon induced to re-enter the public ser-
vice in Connecticut and in May, 1807, was made Chief Justice.
Failing health led him toi resign the office and he died Novem-
ber 26, 1807.
His tine Coloaiial home in Windsor is now the state head-
quarters of the Connecticut Daughters of the American Revo-
268
OLD WINDSOR
lution. The Windsor Chapter of this organization tooik its
name in honor of Judge Ellsworth's wife and is known as the
Abigail WoJcott Ellsworth Chapter of the Daughters of the
American Revolution.
Judge Ellsworth's love for his home and his native land is
well illustrated by the following statement made by him at the
close of his active career: "I have visited several countries and
I like my cwn the best. I have been in all the states in the
Union, and Connecticut is the best state ; Windsor is the pleas-
antest town in the state of Connecticut, and I have the pleas-
antest place in Windsor. I am content, perfectly content, to
die on the banks cf the Connecticut."
The following cut shows the Ellsworth Homestead as it
looks today:
THE EQDLS WORTH HOME
PE(RSONiS OF NOTE 269
That Judge Ellswcxth had prospered financially is at-
tested by the following tax list dated August 20, 1806, a little
more than one year before his death:
Oliver Ellsworth —
1 Poll 60.
4 Cows 28.
2 Horses 20.
2 Acres plow land 3.34
16 do Mowing & clear pasture 21.44
3 do Boggy Med^ Mow*i 2.52
2 do do do not do .68
26 do Medow land 65.
3 do Bush pasture 1.2
78 do 2nd Rate 13.26
35 do 3rd do 3.15
1 Carriage 4th rate 30.
2 do 6th do 30.
1 Brass Clock 20.
4 fire places 2nd Rate 15.
4 do do 3rd do , _, 10.
1 Coach 75.
Bank Stack $60,000 @ 3% 1800.
2198.41
His family of nine children played a prominent part in the
history of their time. Oliver Ellsworth, Jr., after graduating
from Yale and serving the college as a tutor, accompanied his
father to France as his Secretary. His health failed soon
afterward and he died at the age of 24. Martin Ellsworth
inherited the homestead, where he resided until his death in
1857. William Wolcott Ellsworth became the leading lawyer
in Hartford, represented his state for five years in Congress,
was Governor of Connecticut four years, and later served as
Judge of the Supreme Court of Errors until arriving at the age
of 70 in 1861. He taught law at Trinity College ; was an original
incorporator of the American Asylum for the Deaf at Hart-
ford and became president of its Board of Directors; was
president of the Board of Directors of the Hartford Retreat
270 OLD WINDSOR
for the Insane; and was generally active in educational and
religious work.
Another son of the Chief Justice, Henry Leavitt Ells-
worth, studied law, was appainted by President Jackson Com-
missioner of Indian Affairs in the Southwest, where he was
accompanied by Washington Irving, who thus obtained ma-
terial for his "Tour of the Prairies ;" later he was placed at the
head of the United States Patent office. Before his death he
became the largest landowner and farmer in the West and
made the prediction that the time would come when steam
power would be used to plow the great prairies and harvest
their crops. This statement was considered so strange and
navel that after his death some of his heirs, dissatisfied with
his will, in which he made a large bequest to Yale College, used
it as an argument to prove that his mind was unsound and
therefore his will ought to be disregarded.
DAiNIEL BISS'BLL
One of the documents preserved at Windsor contains a list
of the names of soldiers who served in the Revolutionary War,
among which appears the name of Daniel Bissell marked
"deserter." One would expect that such a record would bar
the name of Daniel Bissell from all thought of honorable recog-
nition by the succeeding generations of loyal citizens of his
native town. Far otherwise. Though the Windsor recorder
who made the record was doubtless both honest and patriotic
and simply set down what he received from proper authority
in the army, nevertheless the record itself was false, designedly
false, if other records can be believed. Why was the record
ever made? The following story will explain the reason.
Daniel Bissell enlisted in the Continental army in the early
days of the Revolution. He served throughout the war with
credit for ability and distinction for courage, and in August,
1781, when General Washington wanted the most dependable
and capable man available to secure information regarding the
forces and plans of the British army then occupying New York
city and part of Long Island, he turned to Daniel Bissell as he
had turned to Nathan Hale in the earlier days of the war, under
similar circumstances. To carry out his mission Bissell was
PERSONS OF NOTE 271
instructed to take with him an extra suit of clothing and to
leave the American lines wearing his complete army uniform
in order to give him the appearance of a deserter, and, at the
same time, Washington had his name entered and published
in the official returns as a deserter from the American army.
He was instructed to enter New York City where he was
told he could get protection from the Mayor or the Police De-
partment, which would enable him to go to Lloyd's Neck on
Long Island, where he could secure employment as a wood
chopper for the British. He was then to return to the British
camps, view their fortifications, learn the number of regiments
and the number of men in each, the number of heavy guns and
other information of use to the American army. When all
this business was completed an American boat was to be in
readiness to assist him in his escape from Long Island and his
return to Washington's camp.
The plans miscarried. The British had issued orders that
no more protection should be given to deserters to escape en-
forced service in the British navy. Bissell enrolled as a British
soldier in Benedict Arnold's regiment. He was soon stricken
with a fever and sent to the hospital at Flushing. Here and
in a barn to which he was later transferred he spent nine
months in terrible suffering and neglect. In his delirium he
betrayed the secret of his mission to his attending physician,
a kind hearted man, who determined to aid him in escaping to
his friends. From May, 1782, until the following September,
while convalescing he did Quartermaster Sergeant's duty.
Then, following the doctor's advice, Bissell took into his con-
fidence a comrade, who also, desired to escape, and the two
men obtained permission from the officer of the guard to leave
the lines in search of a pig that they pretended had strayed
from the camp.
Accompanied by a boy they left the British camp and
socn reached a narrow river, which they were obliged to swim.
They then came to another river where they discovered a man
in a row boat, whom they so frightened that he took them
safely across. But by this time pursuers with bloodhounds
were on their tracks and they were obliged to hide in a swamp
272 OLD WINDSOR
with only their heads above water. Finally their pursuers
became disco«raged and returned to camp thus allowing Bissell
and his companions, after enduring- terrible hardships, to reach
the camp of Washington on September 29, 1782.
Here Washington told him that owing to the fact that he
had been detained so long and to the further fact that the Con-
gress had ordered that no more commissions should be given,
he could not reward him as he would like to dov but he ordered
him to report at headquarters where he received an honorary
certificate and a badge of military merit, which were presented
to him by Jonathan Trumbull, then serving with Washington
as secretary. The badge of merit was presented in the follow-
ing words:
"I, GEORGE WiASHINGTON, Commander-in-Chief of the
American Army, &c., &c.,
"To all to whom these Presents shall come, sendeth Greetings :
"Whereas it hath ever been an established maxim in the
American Service, that the Road to Glory was open to all, that
Ho,norary Rewards and Distinctions, were the greatest Stimuli
to virtuous actions, and whereas Sergeant DANIEL BISSELL
of the Second Connecticut Regiment, has performed some im-
portant service, within the immediate knowledge of the Com-
mander-in-Chief, in which his fidelity, perseverance and good
sense, were not only conspicuously manifested, but his general
line of conduct throughout a long course of service, having been,
not only unspotted but highly deserving of commendation.
"Now, therefore. Know ye, that the aforesaid Sergeant
BISSELL, hath fully and truly deserved, and hath been prop-
erly invested with, the Honorary Badge of Military Merit, and
is entitled to pass and repass all Guards and Military Posts,
as freely and as amply as any Commissioned Officer whatever ;.
and is further Recommended to that Notice which a Brave and.
Faithful Soldier deserves from his Co.untrymen.
"Given under my hand and seal, in the Highlands of New
York, this Ninth day of May, A. D. 1783
"Signed.
"GEORGE WASHINGTON
"Registered,
"JONATHAN TRUMBULL, Secretary."
PERiSONS OF NOTE 273
A description of this badge of merit and the conditions
which determined its award were made known in the following
order which had been issued in 1782.
Headquarters, Newburgh,
Wednesday, Aug. 7th, 1782
"Honorary Badges of distinction are to, be conferred on
the veteran non-commissioned officers and soldiers of the army
who have served more than three years with bravery, fidelity,
and good conduct: for this purpose a narrow piece of white
cloth of an angular form is to, be fixed to the left arm on the
uniform coats. Non-commissioned officers and soldiers who
have served with equal reputation more than six years are to
be distinguished by two pieces of cloth set in parallel to each
other in a similar form. Should any who are not entitled to
these honors have the insolence to assume the badges of them,
they shall be severely punished. On the other hand, it is ex-
pected those gallant men who are thus desginated will on all
occasions be treated with particular confidence and consider-
ation.
"The General, ever desirous to cherish a virtuous am-
bition in his soldiers, as well as to foster and encourage every
species of military merit, directs that whenever any singularly
meritorious action is performed, the author of it shall be per-
mitted to wear on his facings over the left breast the figure
of a heart in purple cloth or silk, edged with narrow lace or
binding. Not only instances of unusual gallantry, but also of
extraordinary fidelity and essential service in any way shall
meet with a due reward. Before this favour can be conferred
on any man, the particular fact or facts on which it is to be
grounded must be set forth to the commander-in-chief, accom-
panied with certificates from the commanding officers of the
regiment and brigade to which the candidate for reward be-
longed, or other incontestible proofs, and upon granting it,
the name and regiment of the person, with the action so cer-
tified, are to be enrolled in the book of merit which will be
kept at the orderly office. Men who have merited this last
distinction to be suffered to pass all guards and sentinels
which officers are permitted to do.
274 OLD WINDSOR
"The road to glory in a patriot army and a free country
is thus open to all. This order is also to have retrospect to
the earliest stages of the war, and to be considered as a per-
manent one."
Daniel Bissell returned to Windsor after his discharge
from the army, married Rhoda Hulburt December 30, 1789,
and removed the next year with his father's family to Ran-
dolph, Vermont. From Vermont he moved again in 1810 to
Richmond, New York, where he died August 15, 1824, and wa«
buried with Masonic honors.
On a boulder at Hayden Station is a Bronze tablet with
the following inscription :
BIRTHPLACE
OF
DANIEL BISSELL
PATRIOT SPY
OF THE
AMERICAN REVOLUTION
1754-1824
CONN. SOC'Y. S. A. R.
The honor conferred upon Daniel Bissell by the award of
the Badge of the Purple Heart was conferred upon only two
other soldiers of the Revolutionary War, if tradition is correct,
and both of these recipients were Connecticut men. We cannot
learn that the award of such a badge was again considered
until after the close of the World War, when Herbert Hoover,
President of the United States, revived its use in honor of
George Washington and in recognition of deeds of distin-
guished valor, and it is worthy of note that several Windsor
men have recently been enrolled in the Order of Military Merit
whose members are entitled to wear the distinguished badge
of the Purple Heart.
ROGER EINOS
One of Windsor's outstanding military leaders during the
period of the French and Indian War and the American
Revolution was Roger Enos who was born in Simsbury in 1729.
Well educated and a man of superior ability he was the leader
PERSONS OF NOTE 275
of the Windsor volunteers for the campaign against Canada
in 1759 and 1760. He received numerous promotions for his
service against the French and Indians. In 1762 he commanded
part of the expedition against Havana. In 1773 he served
as one of the commissioners to distribute land in the Mississippi
Valley to the soldiers who had served in Canada and at Havana.
In 1775 he started with Arnold on his ill fated expedition
against Canada but was obliged to return with his troops to
preserve them from starvation.
In 1777 he served Windsor as one of the committee ap-
pointed to secure a bounty of thirty pounds for every citizen
of the town who should enter the continental service. Later
he commanded a regiment of the soldiers he had helped to
enroll. In 1779 he removed to "New Connecticut, alias Ver-
mont" and became one of the original settlers of the town of
Enosburg. Two years later he became Brigadier-General of
all the Vernxont troops then in service. From that time until
his death in 1808 he served the state of his adoption in numer-
ous positions of trust and responsibility and became one of the
most prominent and influential figures in its early history,
being elected a Major General of state troops, a member of
the Board of War, a representative to the State Assembly,
one of the committee to settle a long standing controversy
with New Hampshire over the question of Vermont sover-
eignty and independence, a trustee of the University of Ver-
mont and the State's representative for other distinguished
services.
FRANCIS GILLETTE
In the parish of Wintonbury there was born on December
14, 1807, a boy destined to achieve distinction as one of the
state's greatest humanitarian and educational leaders. His
name was Francis Gillette. When he was six years of age he
lost his father and his mother's second marriage gave him a
stepfather who had little sympathy with his desire for an
education.
At the age of fifteen he had the opportunity to attend
an academy at Ashfield, Massachusetts, for one year which
time he used so profitably that he was prepared to apply for
276 OLD WINDSOR
admission to Yale College the following year. His stepfather
objected to his going on with his education and even his mother
failed to give him encouragement and support. His determi-
nation, however, was made clear hy his statement, "Well,
mother, I must and will go to college, in spite of father or the
devil." He M^ent.
In college he ranked high in scholarship and graduated
valedictorian of his class. He next studied law but gave it up
on account of his health and devoted himself to scientific farm-
ing in Wintonbury. Eighteen years of life in the open air
restored his health and he entered public life. In 1832 he rep-
resented Windsor in the General Assembly.
In May, 1835, Wintonbury was incorporated as a separate
town, and at Mr. Gillette's suggestion, it was named Bloomfield.
In 1838, he represented the new town in the General Assembly
where he became a champion of the anti-slavery cause. In
1841 he was the Liberty Party's candidate for governor. For
the next twelve years he devoted himself with zeal to the cause
of freedom for the slave. In 1854 he was sent to the United
States Senate where his first vote was cast against the Ne-
braska Bill. His service during the rest of his term ranked
him among the ablest statesmen.
Returning to Connecticut he directed all his ability and
eloquence against the traffic of intoxicating drinks. He was
the recognized leader in local educational affairs and cooperated
with Hon. Henry Barnard in his campaigns for educational
reform and improvement. When the New Britain Normal
School was organized he was selected as one of its trustees and
soon became chairman of the Board of Management. Business
affairs, public duties, and literary pursuits crowded his remain-
ing years. He died September 30, 1879.
ANDREW MACK
The story of Andrew Mack, the Hessian soldier, who
served in the patriot army, helped establish American inde-
pendence, and founded one of the best known families in
Windsor, deserves especial mention. He was born in Hanover,
Germany, May 10, 1751, and on reaching the age for enlistment
was enrolled in the German army. Under military orders,
PEiRSONS OF NOTE 277
which do not consult a soldier's willin^ess or unwillingness,
he was sent to Dover, England, and there placed under the
command of English forces embarking for America to take
part in the Revolutionary War. He reached Quebec in the
fall of 1776, joined Burgoyne's army in the spring of 1777, and
took part in the campaign that ended in disaster for the
British cause on the plains of Saratoga.
With many others he was taken prisoner by the Americans
at Stillwater. From Stillwater the group of prisoners in which
he was included were marched to Newgate Prison near Wind-
sor. Released from prison in the spring of 1778 Mr. Mac^k
came to Windsor, which appealed to him as a desirable place in
which to make his future home.
In September, 1779, he enlisted in Sergeant Elisha Stough-
ton's Company and guarded the military stores of his adopted
town. Later he enlisted again as a dragoon in Captain Sey-
mour's Connecticut Company.
After the close of the war he married Sally Pease of
Enfield and settled in Windsor, where he died on July 7, 1839.
One of his sons was William, who was born May 31, 1783,
at Windsor and married Charlotte Allyn, daughter of George
Allyn, like Andrew Mack, a soldier in the patriot army. One
of their sons was William Mack, 2nd, founder of the brick-
making business, which is described in another chapter of
this book.
A son of William Mack 2nd was William Russell Mack, also
a brick maker, who in 1858 went to Springfield, Illinois, as
foreman of a large brick yard owned by Eli Taintor, formerly
of Windsor. Having introduced Windsor methods of brick-
making into Illinois, Mr. Mack returned to Connecticut and for
a time made brick in Wethersfield. The call for volunteers in
the Civil War was answered by his enlistment in the Union
army. In a short time he was sent home from his southern
camp because of serious illness. At the close of the war he took
up brickmaking for himself.
His four brothers, Henry C, Charles N., Daniel W., and
Frederick W., were all brickmakers, tho not exclusively, for
other occupations proved attractive. Daniel W. Mack, now
278 OLD WINDSOR
a highly respected citizen of Windsor, in his eighty-ninth
year, engaged in business that led him to travel extensively
and he identified himself with many interests designed to
promote the welfare of his town.
Edward White Mack, son of William Russell Mack, be-
came a brickmaker in his own name in 1891 and in 1911 took
his son Edward White Mack, Jr., into partnership. The firm
of Edward W. Mack & Son now carries on the industry estab-
lished in 1830, which is probably the only industry in the town
that has been carried on without interruption by one family
for more than a hundred years.
A daughter of Daniel W. Mack, Miss EHzabeth Mack, has
added distinction to the family name by her work as an
actress and a teacher and director of dramatics and dramatic
art. While she spends some time in Windsor each year her
profession has for many years required her to spend most of
the time at her studios in Paris and in New York.
HORACE H. HAYDEN
Horace H. Hayden, M. D., born at Hayden Station,
October 13, 1769, became the most widely known member
of an honorable profession which his energy and foresight
created. As a boy he was precocious and was an ardent reader
of the Bible at the age of four. At ten he began the study
of the classics. In his youth he made several voyages to the
West Indies. He became a devoted student of nature, includ-
ing geology and mineralogy, studied architecture, engaged in
business in the West Indies, in Connecticut, and in New York,
and served as the first teacher of the First North School Dis-
trict in Hartford. About the year 1800 he became interested
in dentistry, a profession then little developed. He conceived
the idea of devoting himself to dental surgery. In 1804 he
went to Baltimore, attended the medical school at the Mary-
land University, and acquired a thorough understanding of
anatomy and extensive knowledge of medicine tho he did not
finish the medical course.
After leaving college he rose so rapidly in his profession
in Maryland that in 1809 he was asked to lecture on dentistry
to the medical class of his university. The next year he was
PERSONS OF NOTE 279
made a member of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculties of
Maryland. Largely through his efforts the "American Society
of Dental Surgeons" was organized and later he was elected
its president. Through his influence a dental college was
opened at Baltimore in 1840 and he became its first president.
He was honored with membership in many medical and scien-
tific societies of the highest rank, wrote and published much
on dentistry and science, and is called the "Father of the Dental
Profession." A monument to his memory, erected under the
auspices of the Hartford Dental Society, stands at the top of
Stony Hill in his native town.
EIDWIN D. MORGAN
When funds were being solicited for the building of the
second Windsor Academy, which was completed in 1854, a let-
ter was sent to a former Windsor boy, who had attended the
first academy, and was then a prominent citizen of New York,
soliciting his aid. A check for One Hundred Dollars was the
immediate response and the donor, the Hon. Edwin D. Morgan,
wrote afl^ectionately of his boyhood days and reminded Mr.
Henry Halsey, his friend in Windsor, that he had left the
Ancient Town when he was seventeen years of age with two
shillings and three pence in his pocket and had walked to the
city of Hartford to begin work for his uncle Nathan Morgan
as a general clerk in his store at a salary of Forty Dollars for
the first year. Fifty Dollars for the second year, Sixty Dollars
for the third year, and a chance to become his uncle's partner
the next year.
That he had aptitude for his business is proven by many
stories among which is the following. He was sent to New
York to purchase small quantities of sugar, tea, coffee and
other supplies for his uncle's store. On his return he reported
that he had successfully carried out the entire schedule of his
commission and then he added, "And I bought more. I bought
a cargo of corn, a whole cargo!" "We are ruined," cried his
uncle. "But," said the young clerk, "I sold it again and made
more profit than you have made in your whole business during
the past year."
280 OLD WINDSOR
In due time his uncle was glad to make him a partner and
five years later he went to New York City and engaged in
business for himself.
His rise to success, wealth, and eminence was steady and
phenomenal. His trade both at home and in foreign markets
was on an extensive scale and his prosperity, sound judgment,
and proven integrity brought honors and preferment.
His political activities in behalf of the newly organized
Republican Party made him chairman of the National Com-
mittee of that party. In this capacity he opened the Phil-
adelphia convention that nominated John C. Fremont for presi-
dent in 1856 and also the Chicago and Baltimore conventions
that nominated Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and 1864. After
serving New York as a state senator he was twice governor
of the state, his second term covering part of the trying period
of the Civil War. His preeminent success in that great crisis
led to his appointment as a major general of volunteers with
especial responsibility for the expenditure of many millions
of dollars in the purchase of government rations, clothing,
arms, and ordnance. His state also sent him to Washington
as United States Senator and in 1865 President Lincoln asked
him to accept the position of Secretary of the Treasury, a post
that he decided to decline.
At the age of seventy his thoughts turned to the benevo-
lent distribution of some of his great wealth. Sending for the
president of Union Theological Seminary he told him that he
wished to make a gift to that institution. When the president
departed with bonds to the value of more than Two Hundred
Thousand Dollars in his possession, Governor Morgan watched
his carriage until it passed out of sight. Soon afterward he
reported to a friend : "I am an old man. I have had a successful
life and done about all that I had planned to do, and I supposed
that I had been happy. But I know now that until I stood and
watched Doctor Adams drive away with those bonds I had
never known what happiness was. I can not regret too deeply
that early in life I did not form the habit of giving."
PERSONS OF NOTE
281
ETJWARD ROWLAND SIDL
Edward Rowland Sill was Windsor's most disting"uished
poet. He was born April 29, 1841, in a house now occupied by
the Chaffee School for Girls on the east side of Palisado Green.
At the agfe of eleven he lost his mother and when he was thir-
teen his father died. Fortunately the relatives with whom he
Jived in Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Ohio directed his edu-
cation wisely and he attended Phillips Exeter Academy and
Yale University. After graduation in 1861 he spent six months
in Windsor and went to California where he remained five
years without making choice of a vocation.
In 1866 he went to Ohio where in 1867 he married his
cousin, Elizabeth Newberry Sill. He then attended Harvard
Divinity School but finding himself dissatisfied with prevail-
ing theological conceptions he decided to teach.
EDWARD RIOWLAND SILL
From 1868 to 1871 he taught in the district schools of
Ohio. In 1871 he went to Oakland, California, to teach in the
high school. Later he became professor of English Literature
282 OLD WINDSOR
in the University of California. After twelve years in Cali-
fornia he returned to Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, the former home
of his v^if e, and there engaged in literary work until his death,
February 27, 1887.
Because of his retiring nature he failed to secure wide
recognition of his literary talent in his lifetime but his fame
has steadily increased in recent years and his poems are now
given a high rank.
JOHN M. NILES
John M. Niles was born at Elm Grove August 20, 1787.
He was educated in the local public school and by home study
and the reading of law in the office of John Sargent. He wrote
many political essays which were published in the American
Mercury at Hartford. At the close of the War of 1812 he be-
came the leader of the reform movement which swept over
Connecticut and demanded extension of the right of suffrage,
the abolition of the special legal rights and privileges enjoyed
by the Congregational Church, the granting of equality before
the law to all religious denominations, and the formation and
adoption of a written .constitution to take the place of the
charter of 1662 which was still in force.
To promote his views and policies he with the support of
his sympathizers founded the Hartford Times in January,
1817. For many years he was its editor. The revolution of
1818 and the adoption of the state constitution secured most
of the results for which he had contended.
In 1821 he was appointed one of the judges of the court
for Hartford County, In 1826 he represented Hartford in the
General Assembly. In 1829 he became Postmaster at Harf tord,
a position which he resigned to become United States Senator
in 1835. He held that office until 1839. The following year he
became Postmaster-General in the cabinet of President Van
Buren. In 1843 he returned to the Senate and served until 1849.
In opposition to the leaders of his party he became an
ardent anti-slavery leader and helped establish the Hartford
Press in 1856 to promote the anti-slavery cause. His last years
were devoted to the organization of the new Republican Party.
PERSONS OF NOTE
283
JOHN M. NILEIS
As an author he produced many works of great merit
including a Gazetteer of Connecticut and Rhode Island and a
History of Mexico and the South American Republics.
As a part of Connecticut's Tercentenary Celebration his
birthplace is to be marked with a bronze tablet donated by the
Hartford Colony of the National Society of New England
Women. The tablet is to be unveiled with appropriate cere-
monies on October 9, 1935.
JABE'Z HASKELL HAYDEN
Jabez Haskell Hayden will be long remembered by every
student of the early history of Old Windsor as the man whose
researches more than those of any other historian have made
us acquainted with the most reliable record pertaining to the
early days of Windsor and her daughter towns.
284 OLD WINDSOR
He was born at Hayden Station December 20, 1811. When
the Connecticut Silk Manufacturing Company was organized
in Hartford in 1835, he entered the employ of the company
and devoted himself to the study of the business with such
zeal and success that in three years he was prepared to become
a partner in an independent company.
Mr. Hayden used to relate the experiences of Connecticut
in producing its own silk during those early years of the
industry.
Soon after the close of the Revolutionary War, Dr. Ezra
Stiles, president of Yale University, conceived the idea of
raising mulberry trees in Connecticut and introducing silk
worms in order to produce silk at home more economically
than it could be imported from abroad. By the time Mr. Hay-
den first engaged in the silk business these trees had reached
maturity and many people were engaged in producing silk
cocoons for the market. In 1831, Mr. Hayden's father had set
out on his farm one thousand white mulberry trees. Another
tree imported from China was the morus multicaulis, a form of
mulberry having a leaf as large as a cabbage leaf and requir-
ing little labor to gather and feed to the silk worms. Many
enthusiastic people in the Connecticut valley and in eastern
Connecticut and western Rhode Island invested their money
in the morus multicaulis in the hope of developing an exten-
sive and lucrative industry. The Connecticut legislature voted
a bounty to stimulate the growing of silk at home. Silk was
produced, silk of a good quality, but at a cost that almost
ruined the producer. The Connecticut Silk Manufacturing
Company collapsed as did several other similar companies and
domestic silk culture was at an end.
With this experience as a background, Mr. Hayden went
to Windsor Locks in 1838 as a member of the firm of Haskell &
Hayden and carried on a successful business importing silk
and manufacturing silk thread until his retirement about 1881.
After 1881 he gave much of his time to the historical and
genealogical studies for which he had both fondness and
aptitude.
PEiRSONiS OF NOTE
285
In 1886 he contributed chapters on Windsor History and
Windsor Families to the Memorial History of Hartford County.
Two years later he published the Genealogical Records of the
Connecticut Line of the Hayden Family and in 1900 he com-
pleted a series of Historical Sketches which he had published by
the Windsor Locks Journal. On many historic occasions he
delivered historical addreses and was recognized as an author-
ity oin every subject that he discussed. He died at Windsor
Locks December 1, 1902.
/
JABEZ HAiSKEiLL HAYDEN
286 OLD WINDSOR
CHRISTOPHER MINER SPENlOER
Christopher Miner Spencer was born in Manchester, Con-
necticut, on June 20, 1833. By the time he was eleven years
old he showed a remarkable fondness for making things.
During the next twenty years he had a wide experience in
many machine shops and in Colt's Armory at Hartford. His
first significant invention was an automatic winding machine
which revolutionized the winding of silk. His chief interest
centered in the possibilities of a repeating rifle. He perfected
a gun of this type which was patented March 6, 1860, and
placed at the service of the government. Gideon Wells, Sec-
retary of the Navy, gave an order for 1,000 guns. After
President Lincoln had personally tested the gun 200,000 were
furnished to the army. That this gun, which as the Confed-
erates said, "the Yankees loaded on Sunday for the rest of the
week," was a deciding factor in the outcome of the Civil War
has been stated by many who were in a position to know.
In 1882 he perfected the Spencer Repeating Shotgun, and
adapted the new principles of this gun to his army rifle of
Civil War fame with the result that he more than doubled the
rapidity of its fire.
In May, 1883, the Spencer Arms Company was formed to
manufacture this gun in Windsor in the south part of the well
known Eddy Shop. Later Mr. Spencer sold the patent rights
to the gun and turned his attention to the improvement of
screw machines and produced the double turret automatic
screw machine, later developed into the six spindle automatic
now manufactured by the New Britain Machine Company.
As far back as 1862 he had built and sucessfuily operated
a steam wagon and used it in going to and from work in Man-
chester. It frightened some of the horses and the "Town
Fathers" requested Mr. Spencer to "keep the car off the road."
Forty years later he resumed interest in horseless carriages
and the seven that he built in Windsor and two in Hartford
attracted mucch attention. When his son Roger ran one of
these steam buggies to New York in 1901, the Hartford Times
commented favorably on the fact that the car averaged thirteen
miles an hour on indifferent roads.
PERSONS OF NOTE 287
In 1910 Mr. Spencer moved to Hartford, where he died
February 14, 1922.
RICHARD NILES
Richard Niles, born at Elm Grove (then Poquonock) Feb-
ruary 23, 1785, began the manufacture of paper in 1825 in a
mill erected on land a short distance south of the present home
of Allison H. Brown. A few years later this mill was used for
the manufacture of silk thread. Then paper making was re-
sumed. Finally the mill was transformed into a grist mill and
saw mill and continued in use until about 1860 when Alexander
Clapp, its last proprietor, ceased to operate it.
Mr. Niles represented Windsor in the General Assembly
and was one of the town's most influential citizens. He died
June 19, 1846.
THE GRISWOLD FAMILY
The early records of those who were active in public affairs
both in times of peace and in times of war, contain the name of
Griswold more frequently than almost any other name. As
many as seventeen officers and privates of this name served in
the Revolutionary War.
Two brothers, Edward and Matthew Griswold, came to
Windsor in 1639 with the Rev. Ephraim Huit. They were men
of education and property and thus entitled to be addressed
as ''Mister."
Matthew, the younger of the brothers, married Anna Wol-
cott of Windsor and removed to Saybrook, where he became
a prominent citizen and the leading man in Lyme when that
town was separated from Saybrook.
From Matthew Griswold of Lyme descended an illustrio,us
line of public men, including Matthew Griswold, Governor of
Connecticut in 1784-85; Roger Griswold, member of congress,
1795-1805, and Governor of Connecticut, 1811-13; and at least
ten governors of other states, thirty-six judges of the higher
courts, and a long list of men eminent in other professions ;
whose history was compiled in 1884 and would doubtless be
greatly augmented today after the passing of another half
century.
288 OLD WINDSOR
Edward Griswold remained in Windsor for a time and set-
tled at Poquonock (now Elm Gro,ve). His home was on the
beautiful site where the home of Allison H. Brown now stands.
From him are descended the many Griswolds of Windsor.
About 1663 Edward Griswold and his younger children
removed to Hommonoscett, now Clinton.
Of the present generation Harry C. Griswold is one of the
prominent tobacco growers of the town, interested in public
affairs, having represented Windsor in the legislature.
RUEL CROMPTON TUTTLE
Windsor's most widely and best knoiwn painter is Ruel
Crompton Tuttle. His father, the Rev. Reuel H. Tuttle, rector
of Grace Episcopal church, was ambitious that his son should
become an architect. With this end in view he entered the-
Boston School of Technology in 1891. While there he devel-
oped a strong and keen interest in painting as the result of
his association with Ross Turner, one of his instructors. Still,
he did not abandon the idea of becoming an architect and from..
Boston he went to Paris to continue his study of architecture
under Henri Duray. In Paris as in Boston it was art that fur--
nished his greatest fascination. He studied drawing at the'
Academic Julian and spent the summer months in Southern!
France painting in water colors. Upon his return to America,
he exhibited his paintings in the galleries of Doll and Richards'
in Boston. liis paintings won instant favor and found many
purchasers.
He continued his studies in New York under H. Siddons
Mowbray, Kenyon Cox, and J. Alden Weir and in 1897 opened a
studio in Windsor. The next year he studied in Paris and
London and painted in the Chateau District of Lorraine. Back
at home again in 1899 he resumed work in his Windsor studio-
and for two years taught art in Miss Williams' Institute besides
conducting private classes at his studio. In 1901 he painted in
Italy. In 1904 he opened a studio in Hartford and for several
years specialized in mural paintings and portraits in oil. Later
he decided to devote himself mostly tho not exclusively to
water color work.
PEiRSONS OF NOTE
His paintings have been received with favor when exhib-
ited at the St. Louis Expoisition, the Panama-Pacific Exposi-
tion, the Corcoran Airt Gallery, the Worcester Art Museum,
the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and many similar art
galleries in the great cities of the country.
His mural decorations are found in many beautiful homes,
churches, and public buildings. His oil portraits of two presi-
dents of Trinity College and many prominent Connecticut and
New England people testify to his established reputation in
centers of art and culture. His home town is proud of his
painting of John Fitch, which hangs in the lobby of the John
Fitch High School.
In recent years his professional interests have led him to
make his home at the Weldon Hotel in Greenfield, Massachu-
setts, and he has made many European tours in quest of scenes
and subjects such as he loves to paint for his friends and
patrons in America.
E-'VEILYN BEATRICE LO'NOMAN BATCHELDER
Mrs. Evelyn Beatrice Longman Batchelder, wife of Head-
master Nathaniel Horton Batchelder of the Loomis Institute,
has made many outstanding contributions to the artistic and
historic life of her adopted town. She is recognized as one of
the leading artists of the country, being the first woman
sculptor to be made a full member of the National Academy of
Design. She carries on her work in the finely equipped studio,
she and her husband built on the Loomis School grounds.
Her early studies in art were carried on at the Chicago Art
Institute under the direction of the distinguished Lorado Taft.
Later she was for some time associated with Daniel Chester
French in New York and assisted in some of his most famous
productions.
Since coming to Windsor she has filled many important
commissions both in this country and abroad, but to Windsor
she stands preeminent for her generous services donated in the
production of three of the town's most cherished artistic and
historic memorials. The first was the Windsor War Memorial,
a bronze eagle, emblematic of freedom and fortitude, dedi-
WINDSOR WAR MEMORIAL
PERSONS OF NOTE 291
cated "TO THE PATRIOTS OF WINDSOR," the soldiers and
sailors who, have fought in Windsor's defence from the date
of its settlement in 1633 to the date when the memorial was
erected in 1929, together with the statesmen and distinguished
citizens who have brought honor to the town. This monument
stands on Windsor Green, a short distance north of the Public
Library and is illuminated at night by a specially provided
electric flood light.
The second monument stands on Palisado> Green and was
dedicated May 31, 1930, on the occasion of the opening cere-
monies of the Tercentenary Celebration of the founding of the
oldest Congregational Church in America and the migration
of its pastor and congregation to New England. It is both mas-
sive and graceful and consists of three heavy granite slabs
standing on a base of the same material. The central slab car-
ries a bronze model of the Mary and John, the ship that brought
the pioneer congregation across the seas to Massachusetts
Bay, from which they migrated again to build a new home oji
the spot now marked by this memorial. Besides the names of
the original pioneers, who came in search of religious freedom,
the monument bears this inscription:
"To the Founders of Windsor and the First Congregational
Church in Connecticut, which came to America in the Mary and
John with its pastor, John Warham, May 30, 1630, settled in
Dorchester, Mass., and migrated to Windsor in May and Octo-
ber, 1635. This memorial is erected on the site of the first
church building in Connecticut by the Sons and Daughters of
the Pilgrims, Connecticut Branch, May 30, 1930."
The third memorial is a beautiful relief of the Madonna
and child placed in Grace Episcopal Church in the fall of 1934.
The neighboring city of Hartford also has three recog-
nized masterpieces designed and executed by Mrs. Batchelder —
the Spanish War Memorial, a short distance from the Capitol,
the Workman at the State Trade School, and the heroic relief
of two horses and riders on the Federal Building.
292
OLD WINDSOR
JULIUS E. RANSOM
Among the modest, unpretentious men, who have spent a
long life in Windsor contributing time, energy, and money to
promote every form of community welfare, Julius E. Ransom
was one of the most widely known and mo:st thoroly respected.
Born in Windsor, July 11, 1859, he received his early edu-
cation in the public schools, and at the age of thirteen was called
upon to help support his widowed mother and her five children.
Later he attended the Hartford High School. At the age of
nineteen he secured employment in a tobacco warehouse and
two years later was made foreman, a position that he held for
nine years, after which he decided to learn the carpenter's trade
and became a builder and contractor.
Still later he became a tobacco grower and a buyer for
such firms as the L. B. Haas Company, the Rollin Mills Com-
pany, the Pierre Lorillard Company, and the Sumatra Tobacco
Company, which caused him to travel extensively and become
widely known. His main interests, however, concerned the
town of Windsor and Windsor citizens were his beneficiaries.
PEiRSONS OF NOTE 293
He was among the first to promote the idea of a local bank
and became one of the first directors and later vice-president
of the Windsor Trust Company. He served devotedly as chair-
man of the committee that built the John Fitch High School.
He contributed generously to every worthy cause and main-
tained that the greatest happiness in life came from helping
others.
Freely he gave his services to enterprises ranging from
the placing of a public Christmas tree upon the village green
to the serious public problems of town government. As a
trustee of the Methodist Church, fire commissioner, leader in
club and lodge work, and councilor and worker in enterprises
for social and civic improvement, he literally exhausted himself
for the public good.
He died May 13, 1927.
H. SIDNEY HAYDEN
H. Sidney Hayden was one of Windsor's outstanding bene-
factors. As a young man he first engaged in business in a
country store, then he went south to join his brother Nathan-
iel, who was in business in Charleston, South Carolina, and in
1843 became head of the firm, which dealt in "Jewelry and
Military Goods."
Shortly before the Civil War, due it is said, to the dis-
turbing conditions of those critical days, he returned to
Windsor, where his business ability and public spirit made him
one of the town's most prominent and most influential citizens.
He served his town in both branches of the legislature and
served a whole generation as judge of probate. He was one of
the trustees that built the Connecticut Institution for the
Insane at Middletown and for many years served as chairman
of the board that managed its affairs.
He established the Young Ladies' Seminary at Windsor
and was a trustee and treasurer of the Loomis Institute. He
sponsored the efforts that led to the organization of Windsor's
first volunteer fire company, organized and promoted the
Windsor Water Company, donated a home for the town's poor,
and was generally among the foremost in promoting every civic
294 OLD WINDSOR
improvement of his day. In the church to which he belonged —
Grace Episcopal — he was an active worker and liberal con-
tributor.
STANTON F. BROWN
Few men in all of Windsor's long history have served the
town as devotedly and unselfishly as did Stanton F. Brown.
After completing his education he taught in the public schools
for a few years. Then he took up farming and was a prominent
tobacco grower, later diversifying his farm crops, but always
he found time for public affairs.
He served as grand juror, justice of the peace, and member
of the board of relief. In 1915 and again in 1917 he represented
Windsor in the legislature. From 1909 to 1932, with the ex-
ception of three years, 1921-2-3, when he declined to serve, he
was chairman of the Town School Committee and gave freely
of his time and energy for the promotion of good schools.
From 1932 until October, 1934, he held the office of First
Selectman and worked beyond his strength in the public in-
terest. In .July of the latter year he was obliged to relinquish
his duties, broken in health, and he died at his home in Elm
Grove on November 4th, 1934.
LELAND P. WILSON
For a generation Leland P. Wilson has been the leading
citizen of Wilson village and one of the most prominent men
in the civic affairs of his town.
When quite young he entered the employment of the
Connecticut Fire Insurance Company as a clerk, in March,
1891. His promotion testified to his ability and success in his
chosen work and when he retired from the service of this com-
pany, July 1, 1921, he had for seven years been Superintendent
of the Loss Department having responsibility for the adjust-
ment of losses totaling from four to five million dollars an-
nually. Since his retirement he has acted as local agent for
the iEtna group of insurance companies taking care of a large
part of the insurance in his community.
In civic affairs he has been a leader in bringing about the
adoption of a much needed Building Code and a system of
PERSONS OF NOTE 29'5
Zoning Regulations. He contributed largely to the movement
that resulted in a revaluation of the town property based on
an aerial survey. He was responsible for the success of the
movement that enabled the Windsor Fire District to receive
water from the Hartford Water Supply. From its inception he
has been active in the affairs of the Wilson Fire District, which
has charge of Sewers, Sidewalks, and certain aspects of local
sanitation. At present he is serving on the town board of
finance, the zoning .commission, and the official staff of the
Metropolitan District.
THE RiEV. DR. FREDERIOK W. HAR)RIMAN
Dr. Harriman served as rector of Grace Church in Wind-
sor from March 1, 1886, to May 1, 1916, a period of time that
is said to constitute one of the longest rectorships in Connecti-
cut. He was born in Crawfordville, Indiana, educated at the
Hartford High School, Trinity College, and the Berkeley Di-
vinity School at Middletown, Connecticut.
Before coming to Windsor he had served as assistant in
St. James' Church Winsted, and St. Andrew's church, Meriden,
and had been rector of Trinity Church, Portland, Connecticut.
Before entering Berkeley Divinity School he had taught
one year at the Chehire Academy and this experience was of
value in later years when he became a member of the Town
School Committee, which managed the schools of Windsor.
For many years he was the leader of the Windsor Literature
Club and the Windsor Library Association and extended a
helpful and stimulating influence upon the scholarship and cul-
ture of the community.
He was a Fellow of Trinity College and a trustee of the
Berkeley Divinity School and the Loomis Institute.
Among the honors conferred upon him was the degree of
Doctor of Divinity, conferred by his Alma Mater, Trinity
College.
After he resigned as rector of Grace Church he made his
home with his three children, dividing his time among them,
until his death at the home of his son, Lewis S. Harriman, in
Buffalo, New York, February 19, 1931.
2,96
OLD WINDSOR
THE REV. ROSCOE NELSON
The Rev. Roscoe Nelson, pastor of the First Church of
Windsor, is a native of the town of Canaan in the State of
Maine. After preparing for college at the Maine Central In-
stitute in the town of Pittsfield he entered Bates College in
the fall of 1883 and graduated with the class of 1887, receiving
the degree of Bachelor of Arts.
Having had teaching experience in the district schools of
Maine before graduating from college he continued in school
work for two years after graduation as the principal of the
High School at Putnam, Connecticut.
He then entered the Divinity School at Yale from which
he received the degree of Bachelor of Divinity in 1892. Before
his graduation from Yale he had filled vacation appointments
as a preacher in Hillsboro, Wisconsin, and Buffalo, New York,
and had suppled the pulpit at Windsor. As a result of his visits
Windsor he was called to become pastor of the First Church in
April. 1892, and entered upon his duties at the close of the
school year.
THE REV. ROSCO'E NELSON Photo by Broderick
PERSONS OF NOTE 297
During his long pastorate he was active and prominent
in civic and educational affairs as well as in his pastoral field.
He served many years on the School Committee, was chosen
head of the local Red Cross organization and President of the
Public Library Association, two positions that he still holds,
and gave freely of his time and energy for the promotion of
many community enterprises.
He resigned his active duties as pastor to take effect
July 1, 1932, forty years from the time he assumed those
duties. He was made Pastor Emeritus and now makes his
home in Hartford. Since his retirement from the pastorate he
has been active in promoting an interest in the League of
Nations, the World Court, and other agencies for establishing
peace and encouraging cooperation among peoples and nations.
■^>^
298
OLD WINDSOR
MAURICE KENNEDY
Under the caption of "The Town Court of Windsor" we-
have already made reference to the remarkable record of
Windsor's veteran constable and present deputy sheriff. Mau-
rice Kennedy is devoted to the welfare of the town in which he
was born and has spent all his years. Nature endowed him
with a talent for investig-ation and discovery that has made-
him one of the most successful detectives the town has ever
known. Fearless in the face of danger and resolute in the
defense of law and order, he possesses ideal qualifications as a.
guardian of the peace and safety of the community.
His popularity and the esteem in which he is held by his:
fellow citizens are attested by the fact in recent elections his
name has been placed upon the ballot by both the Democrats
and the Republicans.
MAURICE KENNEDY
Episodes
Glimpses along the course that Windsor has traveled dur-
ing her first three hundred and two years of history will give
vividness and personality to what might otherwise seem
abstract and impersonal. Some of those that follow are seri-
ous, some humorous; some are trivial, some of more impor-
tance.
Bissell's Ferry and Other Ferries
What proved to be the most famous ferry in Connecticut
was established in 1649 between points on the east and west
banks of the Great River at Windsor. The subject of such a
ferry had been before the General Court as early as January,
1642, when the Court decreed that if the people of Windsor
would provide a ferry boat for use on the river they should
be allowed three pence for transporting a single passenger
across the river, and two pence per person when the boat car-
ried more than one at a time, and twelve pence for each horse
carried over.
There appears to be no record of any definite action by
the people of Windsor until 1649 v/hen the Court made a con-
tract with John Bissell "to keep and carefully attend the Ferry
over the Great River at Windsor, for the full term of seven
years from this day, and that he will provide a sufficient Boat
for the carrying over of horse and foot upon all occasions. . . .
for which the said John Bissell is to have of those that he
ferries over, eight pence for every horse or mare, and two pence
for every person that goes over therewith, or that hath an-
other passenger to go over the said Ferry at the same time;
and three pence for every person that goes over the Ferry
alone, single, or without any more than himself at the same
time."
The ferry landing was located about sixty rods north of
the Ellsworth homestead on the west bank of the river. The
landing on the east side was near what later became the old
O
m
m
O
Q
<
o
o
o
CO
Q
EPISODES 301
stone quarry company's wharf. About 1665 the location of
the landings was fixed about one mile farther south and there
they remained as long as the ferry continued in operation.
It would be difficult to overestimate the importance of
this ferry in :Cplonial days, but gradually the need for its service
diminished and the frequ6ncy of its trips was reduced until
in the early years of the present century the boat ran at
irregular intervals, sometimes remaining unused for many
days at a time, until October 1, 1917 when its use was dis-
continued officially though by special arrangement the boat
was used as late as the fall of 1921 to carry the Windsor His-
torical Society across the river on a pilgrimage.
In the early days there were other ferries across both
the Farmington and the Connecticut rivers but none of them
ever played the important part or achieved the fame ascribed
to Bissell's Ferry.
In the colonial days the ferry across the Farmington from
Ferry Lane to the south bank about a quarter of a mile south-
east of the First Congregational Church rendered a necessary
and important service.
Another ferry of considerable significance for some years
was the Wolcott Ferry established about 1736 from Plymouth
Meadow across the Farmington and connecting with another
ferry across the Connecticut to the east side where it was met
by a great new highway, extending east to Tolland and known
in later years as the "Governor's Road."
Farther north a charter was granted in 1783 to James
Chamberlain for a ferry between what is now Windsor Locks
and Warehouse Point. This ferry changed hands many times
before 1885 when it was sold to the Windsor Locks and Ware-
house Point Bridge and Ferry Company for $20,000. The new
company built a suspension bridge across the Connecticut
River during that same year and the ferry was discontinued.
302 OLD WINDSOR
A Tax List
The following exhibits Governor Wolcott's fondness for
expressing himself in rhymn.
THE LIST OF MR. ROGER WOLCOTT'S RATEABLE ESTATE
IN FORMER DAIES.
Sparkish Listers, alias Misters
That do take the List
That you may here attend with feare
And be exceeding whist.
Acres of meadow land I've foure
But know withall it is but poor
Three quarters of one acre more
Have I to add unto the score.
I have a horse, but he's so thin
His bones appear most threu his skin
A winter milks, and new milk kine
I like wise have and two poor swine.
A yearling calf, a pretty creature.
Handsom in carriage and in feature
Another calfe I had last yeare
But where he's now I cannot heare.
Which fills my heart with siths and groans,
For feare the croos have picked his bones,
He was so poor before he died
They gather gauped for his hide
But now hee's gone both he and I
In sorrow both a Sympathy.
Pray take this for a perfect list
For I think there's nothing mist
That doth belong to my estate
For which I ought to bear a Rate.
How Calves Were Identified
STRAYED OUT OF THE SUBSCRIBER'S
pasture in Simsbury, some time last fall, two young creatures,
marked with a top cut in the off ear, and two slits in the near
ear. Whoever has taken up said creatures and will return
them to the owner or send him word so that he may have them
EPISODES
303
again shall have a handsome reward and charges paid, by
Silvanus Griswold.
Windsor, December 28, 1775.
— Advertisement in the Hartford Courant.
Fixing Prices
At a Meeting of the Civil Authoraty & Select Men of the
Town of Windsor in the County of Hartford on the 20*^ Day
of March — Anno Domini 1778. The following Prices Were
Affixed to the Articles Hereafter Named Agreable to The
Statute of this State in Such Cases Made and Provided. (Viz)
To Tavern Keepers
West India Rum
by the Point
by the Half Point
by the Gill
by the Half Oill
Flip by the Mugg
by the Half Mugg
Toddy by the Pale
by the Half Do
Other Distilled Sperits
by the Point
by the Half Do
by the Gill
by the Half Do
Flip by the Mugg
by the Half Do
Toddy by the Pale
by the Half Do
Syder by the Mugg
INovember Syder by the ^
Mugg Till the first of
January
One Yoak of Oxen on ]
Hay by the Night or J^ 0
24 Hours
Ditto on Grass
Ditto Bateing
Flax or Hamp Well |
Dressed p"" Pound C 0
L
s
d
0
3
8
0
1
10
0
0
11
0
0
6
0
2
0
0
1
0
0
2
0
0
1
0
0
2
7
0
1
4
0
0
8
0
0
4
0
1
6
0
0
9
0
1
6
0
0
9
0
0
6
0
0
4
L
s
d
0
' 2
"3
0
1
6
0
0
8
1"4
All Other Things Sold '
or Done by the Tavern
Keeper in the Same
Proportion to the Arti-
cles Above Mentioned
Good Well Washed
Skeeps of the Best
Quallity by the Pound J
Ditto of Inferior Quail- )
ity in Just Proportion (
Common While fulld
Cloath Sheared &
Pressed of One Yard
Wide Before Mild and
Other fulled Cloath
According to the Col-
ler, Quallity & Wedth
in Propoi-
Common White flanel of )
One Yard Wide by ye yd f
Methiglin by the Quart
by the Point
by the Half Do
Victuals by the Meat of ^
the first Quallity & I
first Cult Dinner J
Other Meals of Different
Quallity &c Inpropor-
tion
Lodging p'" Night
0 4 0
0 11 0
0 16
0 5 0
}.04
OLD WINDSOR
If Clean Sheats are Re-
quired & Provided at
Perticular Request
0 0 0
0 0 4
Oats by the Mess
Horse Keeping by the
Night or 24 Hours 0 16
Ditto on Grass 0 1 0
Horse Bateing 0 0 4
Common Chect flannel of )
One Yard Wide pi' y' j 0 6 0
All other Chest Walling ~
Cloaths in Proportion
to the Above Accord-
ing to Quallity
Common To Cloath bnfe ] '
Yard Wide & Mar- }>
chantable I
Whitr.ed Ditto
Good Yard Wide Chest
Linnen Made of Yarn
Weighing No More
then Three Run to the
Pound J
All Other Linning in
Proportion to Those
Above Stated Accord-
ing to Wedth and
Quallity
0"
0 3 10
0 6 0'
A Case of Theft
To Henry Allyn Esq'' Just^ peac^ in and for Hartford County
Come John Thrall Jun' of Said Windsor in s'' County
Grandjuror of the Governor and Company of the State of
Connecticut, in and for Hartford County, and upon His Oath.
Presents, that Alexander — of Said Windsor, Not Have-
ing the fear of God Before His Eyes But Being Instigated by
the Divel Did in a felonious Manner on the Evening after the
23^^ Day of February Last At Symsbury in Said Hartford
County Take and Steel from Benjamin Thrall of Said Syms-
bury About one Gallon of Rum that the Said Thrall Had then
in His Care and Custaday that that was then When Taken
Drawn Out of a Juge that was in Said Thralls Barn, by Said
— or Some Other Evelminded Persen then and their
in Company with Said all which is against the Peace
of Said State of Connecticut and in Contempt of the Laws of
Said State. Dated at Windsor this 11*^ Day of March ADom
1777
Witneses for the State
Benj^ Thrall John Thrall ^d [. Grandjuror
Simeon Lewis
March 24*^ 1777 then by Virtue of the
within Writ I arrested the Body of the
Within Named BeP, Read y^ within
Complaint & Writ in his hearing and
EPISODES 305
now have him in Court
Test Joab Griswold Constable
A person convicted of theft paid the owner of the stolen
goods treble their value and in addition was liable at the
discretion of the court to a fine not exceeding forty shillings.
Restraining Horses and Cattle
At a Town Meeting Holden at Windsor on the 20^^ Day
of March Anno Dom 1797 by Adjournment from the S'' Day
of the Same Month and Leagally Warned for the Purpose of
Making By Laws for Restraining Horses Cattel .... Swine
Sheep and Geese or any of them from going at Large in Said
Town and for Restraining Such as Shall Go at Large ....
Be it Ordained and Enacted by the Town of Windsor in
Lawfull Town Meeting Assembled, that No Horses Cattel ....
Swine, Sheep or Geese Shall be Allowed to Go at Large on the
High way. Common, or Unincloased Land, in Said Town, nor
Shall any of the Cretures Aforesaid Lie or feed upon the un-
incloased Lands that Are Privet Property without Permission
of the Owner thereof With a Keeper. And if Any Horses
Cattel .... Swine or Sheep be fownd Going at Large on Said
High way. Common, or Unincloased Land, or Shall Lye or
feede on Aforesaid it Shall be the Duty of the Howard, Ap-
pointed by Said Town and it Shall be Lawefull for Any Pro-
priator or Holder of Land, in Said Town or by Their Order to
Impound Said Horses Cattel .... Swine or Sheep in the Pound
Within Sd Town Nearest the Place Where Taken, and the
Owner or Owners of Such Horses Cattel .... or Swine Shall
Pay the Sum of Eleven Cents for Each Horse Ox or Other
Neat Kine .... or Swine Before the Same Shall Be Released
from Said Pound Three Quarters Thereof to the Person or
Persons Who Shall Impound Said Horses .... or Swine and
One Quarter to the Pound Keeper for his fee, and the Owner
or Owners of Such Sheep Shall Pay the Sum of One Cent and
four Mills for Each Sheep Before the Same shall be Released
from Said Pownd and Three Quarters thereof Shall be to the
Person or Persons who Shall Impound Said Sheep and One
Quarter to the Pound Keeper for his fees ....
306 OLD WINDSOR
Attaching Part of a House
Windsor Jany 3d A D1789
Then I repaired with this Execution to the Usual place
of abode of the within named Debtor and demanded money
goos or chatties whereon to Levy to Satisfy this Execution
and my fees theireon and as none were shewn to me by Direc-
tion of the Creditor I Levied Sd Execution on one hundred &
56 square feet on the floor of Sd Dwelhng house in which the
Sd Debtor now lives beginning for the East Bound on a part
of Sd House this Day Set out to Wm. & George Bull Extending
Lengthways Nine feet & 9 Inches and wedthway of the House
16 feet together with the Land Directly before Sd part of Sd
house and on the same Day the Sd Credtor & Debtor maid
choise of Messrs Ebenezr F. Bissell David Elsworth and Josiah
Bissell to apprize the above described front of Sd house and
Land who Did on Sd Day apprize Sd 156 Square feet of Sd
house with all the privileges from the Top of Sd house to the
Center of the Earth together with the Sd Land at 19-14-6 L
money 19S of which being cost & my fees in full satisfaction
of Sd Execution & my fees.
-, Test Levi Hayden Const
This Certifies that we Did Aprize the above Described.
156 square feet on the floor of the Debtors House and Land
Above mentioned at 20-13-6 & no more in fuU satisfaction of
this Execution & Cost.
Josiah Bissell ]
Test Ebnr F. Bissell I Free Holders
David Elsworth J Under Oath
Windsor Jan 3d 1789 then I Recvd the above Described
Part in Sd House of the Hand of Levi Hayd Const in full
sattisfaction of this execution & all cost
Tst Alex Wolcott Jum^
Att for the creditor
The above named freeholders had the Aprizors oath ad-
ministered to them by me
0 Elsworth a Judge of Supr Court.
EPISODES 307
Profane Swearing
(Name of accused changed.)
To Henry Allyn Esqr. Justice of The Peace Within & for
Hartford County Come Ehhu Drake one of the Constables of
the Town of Windsor for This Currant Year and upon His
Oath Presents That one Richard Doe Second of Said Windsor
at Said Windsor Did Profainely Swear .... That Loomis
Warner of Said Windsor Then and Their Present Should not
Tel him That he Ought to be in the Stone Jugg and Did Allso
Then and Their Utter Many Other Such Like Vain and Wicked
Words and Speaches He The Said Richard Did Then and Their
utter and Speak Against the Peace of the State of Connecticut
and the Laws of Said State Dated at Windsor this 15th Day of
May A Dom 1799
Elihu Drake Constable
March 9th 1795 Reed, of Joab Griswold, Treasurer for
the Sain owners in the Parish of Poquonock, six shillings
money in full for the use of my Cannooe to Sain in one Season.
p Nath Griswold
To Henry Allyn Esq' Just^ of the Peac^ for Hartford County
Come Ebenezer Haydon of Windsor in Said Hartford
County and One of the Grand jurors for Said Town of Windsor
for this Currant Year and upon his Oath Presents that a Cer-
tain Trantient Person Whose Name is unknown to your In-
former was upon the 27^^ Day of October ADom 1799 it Being
the Sabeth or Lords Day Guilty of unnesscesaryly Driveing His
Horse & Horse Cart Partly Loaded With Brooms and Other
Loading Three Miles in the Town of Windsor Travilling
Through the Town of Windsor, and Refusing to Give your
Complainer any Reasonable Satisfaction of the Nessaty of
his So Travilling All Which Conduct of Said Trantient Person
is Contara'y to the Peice of the State of Connecticut and in
Direct Contempt of One Statute Law of Said State Entitled
an Act for the Due Observation of the Sabeth or Lords Day
Whereupon your Informer Prays Due Prosses May be Had
Against Said Trantient Person. Dated at Windsor this 28**^
Day of October ADom 1799
Eben^" Haydon
308 OLD WINDSOR
To Either of the Constables of the Town of Windsor in Hart-
ford County Greeting
By Authority of the State of Connecticut you Are Hereby
Commanded fourth With to Arrest the Body of the above
Described Trantient Person Now in the Custada of the Above
Named Grand juror and Him Safely to Keep and Have to
Appear Before Me the Subscriber at my Dwelling House in
Said Windsor as Soon as May be then and their to be Made
to Answer to the Above Complaint and be further Delt with
in the Premises as to Law and Justice Appertains Hereof fail
not and of this Writ Make Due Return According to Law with
your Doing thereon
Dated at Windsor this 28th Day of October 1799
Henry Allyn Just^ Peac^
Windsor October 28*^ 1799 Then by Vertue of the Within
Precept I arrested the Body of the Within Described Trantient
Person and Have him Present Before the Court
Test Elihu Drake Constabl
Fees 50 Cents
Officer fees 50
Complaint & Writ 50
Grand Cost 34
Kepers " 2 0
Court fee " 0 50
3 84
fine 2 00
5 84
To Henry Allyn Esq Just^ of the Peac^ Within and for — Hart-
ford County
Com« Elijah Mills Jun^ of Windsor in S^ Hartford County
and One of the Grand jurer of Said Town of Windsor for this
Currant Year and upon his Oath Presents that One James Cook
of Hartford in Said Hartford County Did on the 15^^ Day of
November Instant Unnessaryly Travil from Said Town of Hart-
ford to the Town of Windsor, it Being the Sabbath or Lords
Day All Which Conduct of the Said James is Against the
Peaci of the State of Connecticut and in Direct Contempt of
EPISODES 309
One Certain Statute Law of Said State Entitled an Act for the
Due Observation of the Sabbeth or Lords Day Where upon
your Informer Prays that Due^ Proses May be Had in the
Premises Dated at Windsor this 19'^'^ Day of — November
A Dom 1798
Elijah Mills Jr Grand juror
To the Sheriff of the County of Hartford or his Deputy or to
Either of the Constables of the Town of Hartford
Within Said County Greeting
By Authority of the State of Connecticut you are Here-
by— Commanded fourth With to Arrest the Body of the Above
Named James Cook if to be found within your Precincts and
Him Safely to Keep and Have to Appear Before Me the Sub-
criber Justice of the Peac^ Within and for Hartford County
at my Dwelling House in Windsor in Said Hartford County
then and their to be Made to Answer to the Above Written
Complaint and be further Delt with in the Premises as to Law
and Justice
Newgate Prison
The following story takes us a short distance beyond the
commonly recognized field of Windsor history, but since it
deals with a locality once a part of Old Windsor it is thought
fitting to include it in this volume.
Sixteen miles northwest of Hartford, crowning a high
ridge upon the western slope of Talcott Mountain, stand the
crumbling walls of the once widely famed and greatly dreaded
Newgate of Connecticut.
Why was this place so famed and so dreaded?
Because it was a prison and a dungeon of horrors. Within
its underground caverns, in the old colonial days, robbers,
burglars, counterfeiters and criminals of all types paid the
penalty of their misdeeds. Here, too, in the days of the Revo-
lutionary War Tories were sent by the Connecticut Committee
of Safety to punish them for opposing the patriots and helping
the British. Washington, also, while commander-in-chief of
the American army at Cambridge found among his men some
"flagrant and atrocious villains" whose conduct proved them
310 OLD WINDSOR
unfit to remain in the army and unsafe to be given their
liberty. Accordingly he sent them to Newgate for confinement
in its dungeons.
When the war was over Connecticut for more than a third
of a century used these same dungeon caverns as her state
prison.
How did it happen that Connecticut had such dungeons
to use for such purposes?
If we are to answer this question we must first go back
to the year 1707. At that time a large number of men who
owned farms in that part of the old town of Simsbury which
is now the town of East Granby, formed a company to dig for
copper which had recently been discovered in the rocks of
Talcott Mountain. The spot where they began to dig has
ever since been known as Copper Hill. On the summit of this
hill they dug two deep wells or shafts. These shafts went
down through solid rock. One was thirty-five feet deep and
the other nearly eighty. From the bottom of these wells the
miners dug and blasted great caverns or chambers extending
in all directions.
The broken rock which was taken out of these chambers
contained copper. This ore was taken to the shafts and drawn
to the surface of the ground by means of windlasses and
buckets. The next step was to smelt the ore and thus separate
the pure copper from the rock. Though the mine was never
very profitable it became famous both in America and Europe,
and when the first company of stockholders decided to turn
the work over to others there were plenty of men ready to
take their places. Many companies were formed one after
another to try their fortune in the mine at Copper Hill. These
companies were organized in Boston, New York, London,
Holland and elsewhere. Skilled miners were brought over
from Germany but conditions made it impossible for the
owners to make much money out of the mine.
To begin with, the ore was of such a nature that it was
very difficult to separate the copper from the rock. In the
second place the laws of England forbade the company to
smelt the ore in this country. Large quantities of it were
EPISODEiS 311
hauled to Hartford and shipped to New York and in turn
reshipped to England to be smelted.
One by-product of the mine proved even more famous
than the mine itself. This was the production of Granby
Coppers. Small coins were very scarce and an ingenious
blacksmith, named John Higley, who resided in the town of
Granby, began to make copper pennies from the metal obtained
at the mine. A few of the coins made by him still exist and
are eagerly sought and highly valued by coin collectors. Some
of these coins have upon one side figures of sledge hammers
with crowns above them to show the loyalty of their maker
to the English king. These figures are encircle by a motto
which reads: "I am good copper." The reverse side of the
coin bears the inscription: "Value me as you please."
When the Revolutionary War broke out the Connecticut
patriots needed a prison in which to confine those supporters
of the king whose sentiments and influence were harmful to
the patriot cause. These people were called Tories. The people
thought that the caverns in Copper Hill were just the place to
hold the Tories and keep them from doing harm. As rapidly
as the patriots discovered Tories who were using their influence
to help the king they sent them to these dungeons, which they
named Newgate Prison after a celebrated prison of the same
name in London, England.
At this underground prison greater efforts were made to
subdue the Tories than at any other place in all the thirteen
colonies. Those in confinement made desperate eflforts to
escape. Their friends who were at liberty plotted to aid them.
One after another three blockhouses placed over the entrance
to the main shaft were destroyed by fire. A guard of twenty-
four men armed with muskets and bayonets, and three officers
with cutlasses and pistols were needed to maintain order.
Even this guard sometimes failed for they were attacked sev-
eral times by the prisoners, many of whom escaped. Those
who did not escape showed their hatred of their keepers in
every possible way. Some who had a talent for making rhymes
used it to deride the patriots. A couplet from one of their
compositions ran :
"Many of them in halters will swing.
Before John Hancock will ever be king."
312 OLD WINDSOR
When the Revolutionary War was over there came a
change at Newgate, for it was no longer needed as a prison
for Tories. In 1790 the state of Connecticut passed an act
making it a state prison for the confinement of criminals.
Workshops and other necessary buildings were erected near
the entrance to the mine. These buildings were surrounded
with a wooden palisade mounted with iron spikes. Twelve
years later the palisade was torn down and a strong wall of
stone twelve feet high was built in its place.
The prisoners helped build this wall and when it was com-
pleted they were invited to take part in the celebration that
was held in honor of its completion.
At the celebration one prisoner offered as his toast to the
wall, "May it be like the walls of Jericho and tumble down at
the sound of a ram's horn."
Several buildings of brick and stone were soon erected
inside the wall. These contained apartments for cells, a chapel,
a hospital, a kitchen, a cooper shop, a shoe shop, a wagon shop,
a blacksmith shop, a treadmill and quarters for the officers
and guards.
Here for the next quarter of a century Connecticut con-
fined her convicts. Loaded with chains during the day they
toiled in the shops above ground or trod the steps of the
dread treadmill. At night in their clanking fetters they
descended the shafts to the dungeons below and there awaited
the return of day. There, young and old, first offenders and
lifelong violators of the law, congregated in the darkness to
invent mischief, learn vice and plot crime. It is no wonder
that they were more likely to become worse criminals than
they were to be restored to society reformed and valued citi-
zens. If they neglected their work or their duty or were
offensive in their conduct they were flogged hke beasts, con-
fined in stocks, loaded with extra chains, or suspended by the
heels. Rebellions, insurrections and breaks for liberty were
frequent. At one time thirty prisoners in the nail shop, at a
signal which had been previously agreed upon, unlocked their
fetters with keys that some of them had made from pewter
buttons upon their clothes, and without warning furiously
attacked their guards. The swords and bullets of the guards
PQ
<
O
O
Ph
0
Q
O
314 OLD WINDSOR
were too much for them. Their leader was killed and the rest
soon surrendered.
In spite of the supposed security many prisoners managed
to escape, some of them in ways almost incredible. One man
actually dug his way to liberty from the cellar of the guard
house by tunneling under the prison wall and coming to the
surface outside at a point some distance away.
The unsatisfactory condition of the prison and its bad
reputation caused much criticism and aroused a strong senti-
ment against it. The people of Connecticut demanded that
the prison should be abandoned and that the state should erect
another of a more modern and humane type. Consequently,
a prison of this type was built at Wethersfield. In September,
1827, the prisoners were transferred to their new home and
the horrors of Newgate became a thing of the past. Aban-
doned to the weather the walls and workshops have since been
slowly crumbling away. Their substantial nature, however,
will cause them to last for long years to come. While the dark
caverns below will change but little with the passing of the
centuries, the ruins will be an object of interest and wonder
to thousands of visitors.
Our imagination and our sympathy for those who have
suffered there cause us to shudder as we descend the ladder
into the gloom, and with torch in hand begin the further
descent through long, damp, winding passages into the cham-
bers of horrors, where men once entered, not for a visit of a
few brief minutes, but for months and years, and perhaps for
life. As our eyes seek to peer into the darkness around us
and beyond us, as we speak and then listen to the hoarse and
hollow reverberations that come back to our ears from the
rocky walls of the caverns, as we think of what those walls
would say if they had tongues, as our lungs fill with the dank
air of the pit, we wonder how men ever breathed it for years
and lived. But as we stand and think of what took place there
a hundred years ago, we also feel a sense of gratitude, and a
throb of pride and joy that such scenes have passed from New-
gate and from Connecticut forever and that they are no longer
possible anywhere in our land.
EPISODES 315
The Great Meadow Drain
The digging of a "great drain" in a country town in
Connecticut was a great event as long ago as the year 1797.
In that year James Hooker, Samuel Allen, and others who
lived in Windsor informed the Governor that the marshy low-
lands north of the Farmington River and between Palisado
Avenue and the Connecticut River were unprofitable for farm-
ing purposes because of the water that at times overflowed
them. These men desired that a great drain or sewer might
be dug to drain these marsh lands and make them profitable
for cultivation. They asked the Governor to appoint commis-
sioners to undertake the necessary work. Accordingly on May
30, 1797, Governor Oliver Wolcott appointed Jabez Haskel,
Daniel Gillet, and Ezra Hayden, Commissioners of Sewers and
gave them authority to construct a sewer in order to drain the
"Great Meadow," which its owners had named the "wet and
drowned land."
The following is the commission from Governor Wolcott :
OLIVER WOLCOTT Governor & Commander in Chief in &
over the STATE OF CONNECTICUT
To Mess^^ JABEZ HASKEL, DANIEL GILLET & EZRA
HEYDEN all of Windsor in s^ STATE— GREETING
WHEREAS upon the Memorial of James Hooker Samuel
Allen and others inhabitants of s'^ town of Windsor showing
that there is in s^^ town on the East side of the highway on
which they dwell a quantity of marshy low lands which are
rendered unprofitable by the overflowing of waters being the
whole quantity of land contained in two former Comisions of
Sewers and praying that Sewers might be appointed to drain
the sd land, THE GOVERNOR & COUNCIL on the 23^ day of
May ADom. 1797 did appoint you the s^ JABEZ HASKEL
DANIEL GILLET & EZRA HEYDEN to be commissioners
of Sewers to drain the land afores*^.
I DO THEREFORE pursuant to the s«^ appointment com-
missionate you the s^ EZRA HASKEL DANIEL GILLET &
EZRA HEYDEN for that purpose, & to perform whatsoever
is necessary & requisite thereto agreeably to the directions
of the law entitled "An Act for appointing & directing com-
missioners of Sewers and Scavengers" being first sworn to act
316 OLD WINDSOR
therein, & you are to conform yourselves to the provisions of
the law to which your office hath relation
GIVEN under my hand and seal in Hartford the 30'^'^ day
of May ADom. 1797
OLIVER WOLCOTT
The sewer, an open ditch, extending along the v^^est side
of the "Great Meadow" "under the hill" from the Farmington
River to a point some distance north of the Bissell Ferry Road,
was scon dug. For the next hundred years this ditch or drain
was the object of much care and attention on the part of the
proprietors of the "wet and drowned land." The earliest record
that has come down to us is dated 1799 and entitled "Concern-
ing our Drean Under the Hill .... Setting it out." This docu-
ment names all the proprietors thru whose land the drain ex-
tended and gives the number of rods for which each proprietor
was responsible. The latest official record is dated just a cen-
tury later in the year 1899 and records the proceedings of a
"Big Drain Meeting held at School House No. 5, Oct. 23, 1899."
At this meeting it was voted "that the Big Drain be opened
this fall beginning at the Farmington River, and that each
proprietor open the drain on his own account." About once
in two years during the first twenty years after the digging
of the drain the proprietors were legally warned to hold a
business meeting for the purpose of electing three "scaven-
gers" whose duty it was to see that the drain was opened or
cleaned once a year. In later years these meetings were held
less frequently until they ceased altogether in 1899.
The cost of taking care of the drain is seldom mentioned
but it was apparently taken care of by a small tax. The
records of 1840 show definitely that a tax of one and five-
tenths cents on the rod was found necessary to defray the
expenses that had to be incurred by the "scavengers." The
tax list shows that the total length of the drain was 567 rods
and the amount of the tax assigned to the twenty-one pro-
prietors was eight dollars and fifty cents. The drain was
crossed by numerous small bridges over which the farmers
passed with their teams when cultivating on the "wet and
drowned land" that had been made profitable for cultivation
by the digging and frequent "opening" of the Big Drain. In
EOPISODES 317
recent years the drain has been somewhat neglected but it
still serves to carry off to the Farmington River much of the
surplus water that would otherwise render the cultivation of
the marsh land difficult and unprofitable. In the dry season
the drain now presents the appearance of a small brook run-
ning south under the hill along the edge of the Great Meadow.
Historically and industrially it tells a story of much significance
to the owners of the "wet and drowned land."
From Daniel Hayden's Account Book
1787. To twelve pound and a half Beef at 3 pence per
pound 3 shillings IV2 pence.
Daniel Hayden's Acct. Book.
Wages for Ditch Digging.
1787. By Six Days Ditchin at fore Shilling pr. Day 1
pound 4 shillings. (4 Shillings equalled 66 2/3 cents.)
Daniel Hayden's Acct. Book.
1788. To Six Barrels of Cydor at 6 Shillings per Barrel
1 pound and sixteen shillings.
Daniel Hayden's Acct. Book.
1793. Mrs. Polly Pilkin of East Hartford received 4
pounds, 16 Shillings, for "Keepin School Six months at Sixteene
Shilling p^' month."
Daniel Hayden's Acct. Book.
In 1794 Miss Polly Pitkin received 3 pounds, 10 Shillings,
for "Keepin School 14 weeks at 5 Shillings per weeke by
Publick money" and 2 pounds, 10 Shillings for "Keeping School
10 weeks by Privet money.
Daniel Hayden's Acct. Book,
When the public money was exhausted money was raised
by subscription to continue the school.
In 1795 the Widdo Pitkin received 2 pounds and 6 shillings
for boarding and schooling Esther Hay den eight week at 5
shillings, 9 pense, per week.
Daniel Hayden's Acct. Book.
318 OLD WINDSOR
February 1800. The charge for "boarding the School-
master one week" was 9 ShilHngs.
Daniel Hayden's Acct. Book,
Feby 1800. Jesse Thrall received 3 Shillings, 41/2 pence,
for three feet of wood for the school.
March 21«t, 1801.
The flood was three feet higher than ever was seen by
the oldest man in town before.
Tho^ Hayden
July 1801. "To my hors to hartland 16 m" 5 Shillings.
1801. John Bowers received for making "2 pairs of
womans Calf Skin Shoes" 6 Shillings.
Daniel Hayden's Acct. Book.
An Old Time Tax List.
Thos. Hayden's List for 1802:
One pole 60
1 Cow 7
1 Year land 3.50
1 hors 10.00
5 acors of plow land 5.00
7 D° of pastor D« 9.38
10 Do of bush Do 3.40
4 Do of 2d Rate D" .68
3 Smokes 4th rate 1.80
(Pole meant poll tax. A smoke was a fireplace.)
1802. The charge for a yoke of oxen one half day was
1 Shilling, To draw one load of wood, 6 pence,
Daniel Hayden's Acct, Book.
1805. The price if "Cillin a hog" was 1 Shilling. For
"Cilling a beef," 3 Shillings,
Daniel Hayden's Acct, Book,
EPISODES 319
From Samuel Hayden's Acct. Book
Oct. 1746. For mending a candle stick 6 pence.
Oct. 1756. For a Deer trap 7 pounds, 10 Shillings.
1757
By a thousand of 8 penny nails, 1 pound, 10 Shillings.
March ye 20*'^ 1765. Then Rec^ (reckoned) with
Nath®' Mather and Ballanced all Book accounts from ye Begin-
ning of the world to this Day as witness our hands.
Nathaniel Mather
Samuel Hayden
Some Oldtime Bills
Ocfb' 17th 1808. The Town of Windsor to Levi Hayden D'^
To Preambelating the Line between Hartford &
Windsor $4 00
Oct 27th
To Preambelating the Line between Suffield & Wind-
sor three Days
Expence
9 Crows
19 Blackbirds
Going to Suffield to git their Select Men
to help run the line
4
50
1
22
$9
72
0
54
0
19
$10
45
00
50
$10 95
Windsor Nov^' 11*^ igoS Levi Hayden
The Town of Windsor to Geo. Belden D''
Nov. 1807. To a Coffin for Moses Doe & Handles $2.50
32,0 OLD WINDSOR
A Declai-ation of Belief
It is the lav^^ of the State of Connecticut that a man shall
certify his belief concerning the law of his God. I do profess
of behef in the free and independent Church of Christ and I
will Sacrifice thereunto as I think proper.
Windsor January the first day A. D. 1808.
Isaac Pinney
Bills That the Town Paid
The Town of Windsor to James Brown — D'"
to Making List Bill for 1807 for the half Mile so call'' amount-
ing to $3124.67— .25— $0.78
James Brown
The Town of Windsor to John M. Niles D'-
To making out the grand List for Poquonock Parish for 1809
Amount thereof 12604 Dollars and 57 Cents at ,25 cts per 1000
Dollars $3,15
100
John M. Niles Lister
The Town of Windsor to John Hinxon D''
To boarding Ohver Glazier 6 Days from Ap' 10^^ to Ap' 16<^^
1809 at 67 p'' Week— $0.57
100 John Hinkson
Windsor's Post Offices
As far back as 1753 Benjamin Franklin had been appointed
Deputy Postmaster General of the English Colonies and on
July 26, 1775, the Second Continental Congress adopted a
resolution creating its own Continentan Postal System with
Franklin as the First Postmaster General of the United
Colonies.
Franklin had already (in 1760) established that swift
stage-coach service which amazed the country by carrying
mail from Philadelphia to Boston thru Windsor in six days,
averaging more than fifty miles a day. It was the system
begun by Franklin that Washington adopted and perfected
during his first administration as President.
EPISODES 321
Strange as it may seem, Windsor had no post-office dur-
ing the lifetime of Washington. When Washington was Presi-
dent the great mail route of the East ran from Brewers in the
Northeast corner of Maine to St. Mary's in the Southeast
corner of Georgia. On this route there were one hundred post-
offices and the schedule time from Brewers to St. Mary's was
six weeks and three days. There was a post-office at Suffield
and one at Hartford. Oliver Ellsworth was then United States
Senator from Connecticut and his letters to his wife at home
were addressed to the Hartford Post-office, where Mrs. Ells-
worth arranged to have them given to the stage driver who
carried them in his hat to the store then kept by Major William
Howard, in the present home of the Windsor Historical Society.
When a letter was expected Mrs. Ellsworth sent her hired man
daily to Mr. Howard's store in order to receive it promptly.
In 1802 the Honorable Gideon Granger, of Suffield, was
Postmaster General, and when on one of his trips from Wash-
ington to Suffield, he noticed the stage driver taking letters
from his hat and leaving them in the care of Mr. Howard, he
remarked: "You ought to have a post-office here," and on his
return to Washington he sent Mr. Howard a commission as
the first Postmaster in Windsor.
For many years his post-office was the small room in the
Northwest corner of the Fyler House, a room which in later
years was used as a china closet.
After one generation had walked from Windsor Center
to the north side of the Farmington River to receive their
daily mail a petition was circulated to have the post-office re-
moved to Broad Street. This petition was for a time opposed
by those living on the North side of the river on the ground
that the records of the post-office showed that four men living
between the Palisado Green and Hayden Station received more
mail than all the patrons of the post-office living south of the
river. These four men appear to have received about a dozen
letters a week and their newspapers. Letters when received at
the post-office were marked by the postmaster to show the
amount of postage due. The postage was paid by the receiver
when the letter reached its destination. For a short distance
the amount was six cents. Other rates were ten, twelve and
322 OLD WINDSOR
one-half and eighteen and three-quarters cents, according to
distance. The rate to Charleston, S. C, was twenty-five cents.
Under a law of Connecticut which had been passed in
1787 Postmaster General Granger ordered milestones set up
on all post roads in the State. These were red sandstone slabs
about three feet high and marked with the number of miles
from Hartford and the letter H. A line of stones ran through
Windsor to Hayden Station, then Northwest to Pink Street,
continuing to Gun's Turn, the Half Way House, and across the
plains to Suffield. This is the road traveled by George Wash-
ington on his journey from Hartford to Boston in 1789, before
the stones were erected.
The milestone at Hayden Station carried a more elaborate
inscription than any other in Windsor. This one read:
"10 MILES TO
HARTFORD C. H.
120 MILES TO BOSTON,
130 MILES TO NEW YORK."
The letters C. H. signified Hartford Courthouse, the name
by which the Old State House was then known. Only five of
the original stones are now standing in Windsor. One of these
is near the home of the late Judge D. Ellsworth Phelps, four
miles from Hartford. The next is a short distance north of
the residence of John B. Stewart on Windsor Avenue ; another
is at Windsor Center on Broad Street opposite Capen Street
and is marked six miles from Hartford. The next is in front
of the Fenton House opposite the First Congregational Church,
seven miles from Hartford. The fifth and last stone is on the
old Northampton highway running from Hayden Station
through Poquonock and stands on the west side of the highway
near the boundary line between Windsor and Windsor Locks
and is marked to show that it was twelve miles from Hartford.
One other stone may be seen on the West side of the highway
nine miles from Hartford nearly opposite the home formerly
•occupied by Mr. Joseph B. Spencer. But this is not the original
stone. It was erected about thirty-five years ago by Mr.
Spencer to take the place of an original stone which stood on
the East side of the road and had been broken down.
EPISODES 323
About a quarter of a century after the establishment of
the first post-office in the Fyler House a post-office was estab-
Hshed at Poquonock, as the present Elm Grove was then called.
The earliest record of this office is contained in a letter written
on September 30th, 1827, by David Marshall to a former neigh-
bor, who had moved to New York, He wrote: "Furthermore
we have a post-office granted us in this place of which Cicero
Phelps is appointed Postmaster." Cicero Phelps was the pro-
prietor of the hotel and tavern which was later cut into two
buildings, one of which, the front and main part of the hotel,
was moved away, while the other, the rear part, consisting of
a two-story ell with a ballroom upstairs, was left on the orig-
inal site and converted into the present Elm Grove schoolhouse.
In this tavern Cicero Phelps conducted the affairs of the
new post-office. Even at that early date the office of post-
master was a cause for political preference and rivalry. We
find Elihu Marshall, a near neighbor to the post-office, com-
plaining that "the letters and papers of sd. office are kept by
said Phelps promiscuously in an unlocked desk in the public
dining room in his tavern house" and that on one occasion he
(Mr. Marshall) "saw several men playing at cards together in
said room, where they might have had free access to any and
all papers and letters in said office."
In 1841 a request to the Postmaster General for another
post-office at Rainbow brought earnest protests from the resi-
dents of Eel Harbour (now Poquonock).
These remonstrants stated that two manufacturing vil-
lages had grown up since the post-office was first established,
one near the Poquonock Bridge and the other at Rainbow, and
that a second post-office at Rainbow would cause unnecessary
expense and result in great annoyance to the people living near
the bridge, since some of their mail would go to the old office
and some would go to Rainbow.
They offered as their solution of the problem what they
considered a fair compromise — the closing of the old office and
the opening of a new office near the bridge half way between
Poquonock (Elm Grove) and Rainbow — and they recommended
as a candidate for the new position "Samuel 0. Hollister, Esq.,
who resides adjacent and near said Poquonock Bridge .... in
324 OLD WINDSOR
every respect a fit and proper person, competent and qualified
for the performance of sd duties."
Finally the post-office was removed to Poquonock Center
and still remains there. A second post-office was opened at
Rainbow at a later period. Its location after the opening of
the present century was near the schoolhouse on the opposite
side of the street. For several years it was housed in an annex
to the house standing next south of the home of the late
George W. Hodge and Mrs. Hodge his wife was the Postmis-
tress. Mrs. Hodge was succeeded in office by Mrs. Octavia
Royce and the office was moved to a low brick structure on
the estate of Mr. Hodge. The next and last Postmistress was
Mrs. Alice E. Bassett, whose commission was dated April 21,
1904. She held office until 1916, when the office was discon-
tinued and Rural Free Delivery service from the East Granby
post-office was provided for that part of Rainbow north of
the closed office. Many business men found it advantageous
to receive their mail through the Poquonock office and made
Poquonock their business address. The last home of the Rain-
bow office was destroyed by fire a year or two after it was
closed.
At the south end of the town the community at Wilson
remained without a local post-office until near the close of the
nineteenth century. Some whose business took them to Hart-
ford daily or several times a week had boxes in the city post-
office. Others obtained their mail through the post-office at
Windsor Center.
In 1894 or 1895 a store was opened in a new brick build-
ing at number 230 Windsor Avenue and a movement was set
on foot to have the local mail distributed from this store. As
a result Mrs. Lois Wilson Wetmore was appointed Postmistress
and by 1897 a new post-office was installed in the brick store.
Mrs. Wetmore was succeeded in office by Miss Bertha White,
who in turn was followed by Miss Elizabeth E. Kitchen. Miss
Kitchen served many years. The next in office was Frank L.
Whitney, who served until his death. After Mr. Whitney,
Leslie J. Masten became Postmaster and served until March
31, 1931, when the office was discontinued and the Wilson mail
service was handled from Hartford.
EPISODES 325
During the years of its existence the Wilson post-office
occupied four different homes. The first was the brick store
already mentioned. The second was at number 248 Windsor
Avenue. The next removal was to number 78 Wilson Avenue.
The last quarters were in a small building at Charlevoix Place
near Wilson Avenue. When the mail service was taken over
by the Hartford office a sub-station was established in the
store of the Wilson Drug Company on the southwest corner
of Windsor Avenue and Barber Street.
The post-office at Windsor Center, which was moved from
the Fyler House to Broad Street, has occupied several loca-
tions. At the beginning of the present century it was housed
in the brick building now occupied by the Windsor Drug Store
and Charles T. Welch was Postmaster. He was succeeded by
John G. St. Ruth during whose term of service the office was
moved in 1924 to the Casino attached ^to the Windsor Hotel.
Earl Rogers was the next Postmaster and the office remained
in the Casino during his term and for a while after his suc-
cessor, Albert E. Lennox, had entered upon his duties. Early
in 1935 the office was moved under Mr. Lennox to new quarters
in the Plaza Building west of the Windsor Green.
A Selectmen's Bill for Service
The Town of Windsor to Timothy Phelps Debt AD 1807
& 8
$Cts
Nov 23d One day to Meet the Select Men at John Sills 1,00
Dec"* 14 Do at Samuel Roberts 1,00
Dec™ 21 To Rainbo half a day ,50
Dec™ 24 To Rainbo to lay out a Road one day Expenses 1,12
1808 Jan" 4 1 D^ to EHshu Allyn also 1/2 a quire of paper 1,12
Twenty other dates are omitted totaling 20,24
24,86
Twelve Days Deducted According to Custom* 12.00
12:86
Test Timothy Phelps
*It was the custom to give the town twelve days' service
without charge.
326 OLD WINDSOR
The only change in the following records is the substitu-
tion of Roe, Doe, or Blank for the actual names.
Town of Windsor in Acct with Abiel Griswold D''.
Sep. 23»-d 1808 To one cambrick Hankershief @ 0:2-0
for to use for Banajah Blank to be Laid out in
Windsor Sept 25* 1808
the Town of Windsor to Calven Wilson D^
to Shaving Laying out & Diging Grace, for Benajah Blank
one Dollar Seventy five cents
Calven Wilson
The Town of Windsor to Tim° Phelps Debt''
for Paying for Nine Crows & forty three Blackbirds L 0.97
Tim° Phelps Selectman
School Bills
'* Windsor September 3d A.D. 1822
The Subscribers to the Support of the Union School to
Elish N. Sill Dr for Six Weeks Board Sumner G. Clapp while
Instructing Windsor Academy.
at two Dollars pr week $12
Received payment Elisha N. Sill
Feb^'^ 24th 1824 in settlement with Trustees
Received of William S. Pierson One hundred dollars in
full of the wages due me for keeping the Union School Twenty
five weeks ending Sept^ AD. 1824
H. A. Rowland Jr.
Windsor August 13th 1823
Received of Colonel R. T. Mather, for Oliver Hyde's tui-
tion, four dollars and twenty Cents
Hiram Chamberlin
Windsor, August 12th 1823
Received of John Pinney, for his wood bill, fifty cents
Hiram Chamberlin
Windsor Nov 14 1823
Rec^ from William Howard fourteen dollars for and on
a/c of Collections for Union School.
Allyn M. Mather
EPISODEiS 327
Supporting Education
At a meeting of the Subscribers for the support of the
Union School at the conference house in the first society in
Windsor on the 28th day of January, 1823.
John Sargeant was chosen Chairman and the following
persons was admitted by vote to become members of the Com-
pany for the support of said School — they having subscribed
for this purpose — Edward Selden, Job Drake, William Howard,
David Filley, Issac Hayden, Jasper Morgan.
Whereas the first School Society in Windsor at their Meet-
ing in October A. D. 1820 — granted to certain Individuals of
said Society the interest of the fund appropriated for the sup-
port of the Union School in said Society on conditions of their
supporting a school according to the conditions of said grant —
and whereas, on the first day of January A.D. 1821 — Certain
persons became bound to the Treasurer of the Society to sup-
port a school according to the terms of said Grant — and
whereas the said Society at this meeting in October A.D. 1822
did vote that said persons who had become bound as aforesaid
should have liberty to admit others to subscribe for the sup-
port of said School and who should enjoy the same privileges
and become liable to all the penalties of original subscription.
Now therefore we the subscribers do hereby agree and become
bound to pay our proportion of all the expenses of said School,
which shall hereafter accrue to be calculated in proportion to
the sums annex'd to our several names the same as if the
present subscription had been annex'd to the original sub-
scription to support said School.
Windsor January 28th 1823
Edward Selden — One Dollar
Job Drake — Five Dollars
William Howard — One Dollar
David Filley — One Dollar
Issac Hayden Jr. — Three Dollars
Jasper Morgan — Three Dollars
B2'8 OLD WINDSOR
School Expenses
We have agreed to employ Mr. Elijah Paine Jun'' as a
School Instructor at the rate of $28 per month (four weeks
for a month). Should his loss of time not exceed six days
during the term of nine months school keeping we will make
no account against Mr. Paine for lost time. The school to
commence on Monday the 22nd day of September A.D. 1823.
Mr. Henry Halsey
To Trustees of Union School D^.
To 5 weeks tuition of your Daughter Ellen & 5 weeks tuition
of Laura Mather in all 10 weeks between 3 March & 10 July
1823 @ 20 & 27 cts $2.35. (The schedule for tuition was:
English, Reading, and Writing, 20 cents per week; Grammar,
Geography, and Arithmetic, 27 cents; Latin, Greek, and
Mathematics, 34 cents.)
Received of Elisha N. Sill thirty Seven Dollars & fifty
Cents in full for my Services for Instructing the Academy
School Six Weeks Sept» 3d 1822.
Sumner G. Clapp
The Trustees of the Union School agree to pay Henry A.
Rowland Jr. from the fund in cash $100 and give him what-
ever tuitions may accrue according to the agreement or vote
of the Society, for keeping the sd Union School the term of
Six months and one week or 25 weeks, being the time for which
sd Trustees or Subscribers are obligated to keep sd School to
fulfil their contract with sd Society. The sd Henry Rowland
agrees to keep the school according to the above contract.
March 29th 1824
EHsha N. Sill
Allyn M. Mathers
Jasper Morgan
William S. Pier son
Henry A. Rowland, Jun''
Windsor September 3 A.D. 1822
The Subscribers to the Support of the Union School to
Elisha N. Sill Sr. for Six weeks Boarding Sumner by Clapp
while Instructing Windsor Academy,
at two Dollars pr week $12
EPISODES 329
^Received payment Feb. 26, 1826 in settlement with Trustees,
.1835 Elihu Marshall to Eli Phelps Dr.
For keeping- three sheep fifteen weeks $1.70
— Original Bill
Windsor, Dec, 1836
Elihu Marshall to Phinehas Griffin Dr.
To Hauling 1 Cord 2 ft. Wood from Suffield Plains to
JMiddle District School House $0.50
Reed. Payment Phinehas Griffin
— Original Bill
Ehhu Marshall to Milton Holcomb Dr.
To 16 weeks school Teaching $72.00
Windsor March 18th 1837 Reed. payt.
Milton Holcomb
— Original Bill
Elihu Marshall to Ethan Holcomb Dr.
1837 March 4th. To Sawing 5 Cords Wood at School House
@ 28c $1.40
Reed. payt. Ethan Holcomb
— Original Bill
A Physician's Bill
Poquonock Oct 7^^ 1845
Adin Hunt Dr To Doct Henry Church
1844 August 15* To Coat 1.50
1844 Sept. 6th Xo Medical Attendance One visit .37V2
1844 Sept. 8th To one visit .371/2
1845 July 12th To one d^ .371/2
1845 July 13th To one d^ .371/2
1845 July 26th To one d^ .371/2
1845 July 27th To one d° .371/2
1845 July 28th To one d« .371/2
$4,121/2
Received Pay^t Henry Church
330 OLD WINDSOR
The Locks Canal
During the first forty years following the close of the
Revolutionary War extensive commerce was carried on be-
tween Windsor, Hartford, and places south of Hartford and.
Springfield and places farther north. Sloops took their cargoes
as far north on the Connecticut River as Warehouse Point.
There the cargoes were either transported around the Enfield
Falls by land and again loaded on river craft for their trans-
portation up the river, or they were loaded on light draft
scow boats which could be poled upstream and made to scale
the falls. After 1820 the Hartford bridge proved such a
hindrance to up-river navigation from points south of Hart-
ford that few sailing vessels attempted to go above the bridge
but scows and light draft craft still plied between Hartford
and Warehouse Point and had landings in Windsor on both,
sides of the river.
In 1822 the state legislature chartered a company to
build a canal from New Haven thru Farmington to Northamp-
ton, Massachusetts. This gave New Haven an advantage over
Hartford in the way of trade with the upper Connecticut
valley and Canada. Hartford determined to be in a position
to meet this competition and the Connecticut River Company
was formed and obtained a charter to build a canal in the
towns of Windsor and Suffield, which should enable canal boats
and light draft craft to go around the Enfield Falls. It was
expected to make navigation practicable to the head waters
of the Connecticut river and to Lake Memphremagog.
The charter was obtained in 1824 and the canal was com-
pleted and opened for traffic in 1829.
Until 1845 this canal served the purposes of navigation
for which it was intended, but in that year the railroad, which
paralleled the river, was opened and the river traffic was
doomed.
For many years a small steamer ran daily between Hart-
ford and Springfield. On this steamer Charles Dickens was
a passenger during his American tour in 1842, and some con-
ception of its impressive character may be inferred from the
rating that Dickens gives it in his American Notes, where he
speaks of it as a boat of "two pony-power."
EPISODES 331
The canal is still used occasionally for navigation and
must be maintained in a condition to permit the passage of
boats, since this is a requirement of the charter under which
it operates. Its main use, however, is to furnish water power
to the many mills that have been built upon its banks. In the
early days the village that grew up along the street that
paralleled the canal was known as the Locks and in 1854 this
part of Ancient Windsor became the separate town of Windsor
Locks,
For many years the village of Windsor Locks was con-
nected with the village of Warehouse Point by a ferry which
was discontinued when the two villages were connected by
a bridge.
The Town Deposit Fund
When we read the list of town officials who are mentioned
in our town reports, we find that one of these officials is called
the agent of the Town Deposit Fund. If we next turn to the
annual report of the Board of Education we find that the
school department receives money from the income of the
Deposit Fund, which is used to help pay the cost of Educa-
tion. Where did this fund come from and how do we happen
to have it?
To answer these questions we must go back in our history
to the year 1836. The Revolutionary War had cost a great
deal of money and created a debt of about Seventy-five Million
Dollars. In 1790 the United States government made plans
to pay this debt. To do this the government used some of the
money raised by taxes each year. Before our government
could pay a quarter of the debt we had another war with
Great Britain and the debt was increased to One Hundred
Twenty-seven Million Dollars. After the second war we began
in earnest to pay off this huge sum. Year by year the debt
decreased until the year 1836 when Congress found that money
was piling up in the United States treasury faster than it was
needed. The national debt had been paid in full with the ex-
ception of a few bonds, which had evidently been lost by their
owners. What was to be done? Who had ever heard of a
government without a debt? Congress had no precedent to
332 OLD WINDSOR
go by in this case. There was a "surplus" of more than Forty
Milhon Dollars in the treasury.
In order to dispose of this "surplus revenue," Congress
passed a law, June 23, 1836, directing that all the monies that
should be in the treasury on the first day of January, 1837,
except a reserve of Five Million Dollars should be "deposited"
with the several states in proportion to their respective rep-
resentation in the Senate and House of Representatives. The
amount thus voted was $37,468,859.97. This amount was to
be paid to the states in four quarterly instalments, on the first
days of January, April, July, and October, 1837. Three instal-
ments were paid. Then came the financial panic of 1837. This
caused Congress to enact a law on October 2, 1837, to the
effect that the payment of the fourth instalment should be
postponed until January 1, 1839. This instalment has never
been paid.
Connecticut then had two Senators and six Representa-
tives and all the states together had fifty-two Senators and
two hundred forty-two Representatives. Therefore, Connecti-
cut's share of the deposit was eight two hundred ninety-
fourths of the whole amount, or a little over $1,000,000.
As only three instalments were paid the amount actually
received by Connecticut was $764,670.60.
The act of Congress under which this deposit with the
states was made provided that the money might at any time
be recalled into the national treasury, but it was generally
understood that there was no expectation or intention that
this would ever be done. While nominally and technically a
deposit it was really intended to be a gift to the states.
The legislature of Connecticut at a special session held in
December, 1836, passed an act accepting the proposed deposit
and disposing of it as follows: The money which shall be
received from the United States shall be deposited with the
several towns in this state in proportion to their respective
population as ascertained by the last census (1830) and shall
be repaid to the state treasury whenever payment thereof
shall be required by act of the general assembly or by procla-
mation of the person administering the office of governor, for
the purpose of being paid into the treasury of the United
EPISODES 333
States. New towns formed after the passage of this act
were to receive their proportion of the fund that was held by
the towns from which they were taken.
The following conditions applied to the towns.
1. The towns were to keep and preserve the money as a
deposit held in trust for the state.
2. The income from the fund should be used each year,
at least one-half for schools and the remainder (if any) for
the ordinary expenses of the town.
3. The town must make good any loss occurring in the
management of the fund.
4. The town must repay the whole or any part of the
fund to the state whenever it should be called for.
In 1855 the general assembly changed the law so that all
the income must be used for schools. This is still the law.
The amount of money deposited by the state with the
towns was $763,661.83. Winsor's share, which was reported
to a town meeting held on October 2, 1837, was $5,231.71.
This money was lent to sixteen persons on notes secured by
mortgages. The first note for $500.00 had been secured at
the beginning of the year and was signed by Alfred Bliss,
February 17, 1837.
The amount of the fund remained unchanged for seven-
teen years and the interest was paid each year directly to the
school societies for the support of schools.
The first instalment of interest was distributed as fol-
lows:
To Henry Sill, Treasurer of the First School Society, $77.61
To Eli Phelps, Treasurer of the Second School Society, 39.38
To Apollos G. Hillyer, Agent for the Half Mile (East
Granby) School District, 7.38
Total $124.37
The income was distributed to the different schools in
proportion to the number of pupils reported in attendance.
In 1854 Windsor Locks became a separate town and re-
ceived $1900.00 as its share of the deposit.
When East Granby was incorporated in 1858 Windsor
Locks divided its share with that town. Windsor's share
534 OLD WINDSOR
today should be $3331.71. The town appoints an agent to
administer this fund (by custom the Town Treasurer is the
agent) and in theory he turns over the interest to the Town
Treasurer for the support of schools. In practice some of the
interest has been allowed to remain with the fund which now
(1935) stands on the towns books as $5,256.24.
A Janitor's Bill
Second Society Windsor to Eli Phelps Dr.
For Sweeping Meeting House two years from Oct. 1836
to October 1838 2.50
A Teacher's Bill
Middle District Second Society, Windsor,
To Ehzabeth A. Hoskins, Dr.
1847 To 22 Weeks School Teaching @ 10 shilHngs
6 pence pr week $38.50
Reed, payment Rockwell Hoskins
Bloomfield Nov. 16th, 1847
When Four Months Made a School Year
The undersigned Committee of the Sixth School District
in the first School Society of Windsor do certify that the
School in said District has been kept by teachers duly examined
and approved, for at least four months during the current
year, and visited twice during each season of schooling by the
visitors of the School Society, and the public money received
by the district for the said year has been faithfully applied
and expended in paying for the services of said teachers and
for no other purpose whatever.
Dated at Windsor the 25th day of September A. D. 1849.
L. M. Smith, District Committee.
Entertaining Visiting Ministers
First Ecclesiastical Society, Windsor, Dr.
To J. B. Woodford.
1859
Oct. 24th. To 1 Meal and Fire, .25
Nov. 20th. To 3 Meals and warm Room, .35
EPISODES
335
1860
April 23. To Board of Rev. E. E. Hall,
5 Meals, 2 Lodgings,
May 21st. To Board of Mr. Wm. A. Hallock,
3 M, 1 Lodging,
July 6. To Ferriage going (for a Minister),
An Old Landmark
$1.10
.57
.12
336 OLD WINDSOR
THE OLD HUNTING TREE
This ancient cedar, known as the "Old Hunting Tree," stood in the
north front yard of the Oliver Ellsworth Homestead, Windsor, Connecti-
cut, about half way between the house and highway. It was locally re-
puted to be the oldest tree in Connecticut and was known by the Indians
as their Council Tree from time immemorial. After the whites came,
respect for Indian tradition inspired its continued use as a gathering
place for the more important conferences of the white settlers and In-
dians. In later years its more familiar name was acquired from its use
as an assembly point for hunting parties. A pair of deer antlers were
fixed high up in its branches until a few years before the tree fell,
November, 1877.
One of 350 numbered fac similes made exclusively for members of the
Windsor Historical Society of Windsor, Connecticut, of a scarce
print presented to the Society by Ruth Alden Curtis.
Item One of Society's Publications. Christynas, 1921.
The above is reproduced from a leaflet published by the Windsor
Historical Society.
Sage Park
In the days between the close of the Civil War and the
year 1890 horse racing on Palisado Avenue became an attrac-
tive sport for Windsor's owners of fine horses. But the sport
was less attractive for the general public, who sometimes,
wanted to use the Avenue while the races were in progress,,
and as for the residents along this smooth and level highway
south of the Bissell Ferry road, they, too, found it difficult to
give the practice their unqualified endorsement. What was
to be done?
Yankee ingenuity came forward promptly with a plan.
A few ardent lovers of the sport led by Elliot H. Andrus,,
Fred W. Morgan, Horace H. Ellsworth, Edson A. Welch, and
William H. Filley, resolved to find a place where horse-racing
would not encounter the obstacles it had met on Palisado
Avenue, secure land on which to build a race track, and form
an association to manage track meets, conduct agricultural
fairs, and the like.
On December 5th, 1892, those interested held their first
formal meeting and voted to form a Joint Stock Coinpany to
promote their object. At this meeting it was reported that
Mr. Orson B. Moore had offered to give a tract of land for a
EPISODES
337
RACING AT SAGE PARK
park where fairs and races could be held. This tract was on
the hill southwest of Windsor Center and south of Capen
Street. The gift was accepted at a later meeting, a stock
company with a capital of $3000 was formed, directors were
chosen, and the Moore's Park project was launched.
At the first meeting of the directors held January 9, 1893,
Horace H. Ellsworth was elected President, Fred W. Morgan,
First Vice-President ; Elhot H. Andrus, Second Vice-President ;
Edson A. Welch, Secretary, and William H. Filley, Treasurer.
A half-mile track was laid out, which proved to be one of
the finest and fastest in the country. The grounds were fenced
and equipped for races and fairs, and a fine pavilion seating
about 2500 was built.
Financially the venture proved disappointing and after a
few years Mrs. Louise H. Sage, a lover and owner of fine
horses, came to the rescue and took over the ownership and
management of the property, which was renamed Sage Park.
On April 18, 1913, Mrs. Sage leased the Park to the Sage
Park Club under whose management it was run for a time.
After the death of Mrs. Sage her sons, Jerome E. Sage and
George W. Sage, sold it to Fred H. Thrall, March 3, 1919.
Mr. Thrall on March 4, 1919, conveyed the title to the Park to
the Sage Park Company, of which he was made President, a
position that he still holds.
338
OLD WINDSOR
SA(JK I'ARK PAVILION AND TRACK
Sage Park extended its fame throughout the United
States. Horses were entered in its races from west of the
Rocky Mountains. Some of the fastest horses in the country
made their records here.
In recent years automobile racing has at times brought
^ast throngs to Windsor. At the present time financial and
other reasons have caused a lull in the Park's activities.
Oil City
Many people have wondered how Oil City on the Farm-
ington west of Rainbow received its name. No oil is apparent
in that vicinity, but, so the story goes, many years before
the place became famous as the early home of the Farmington
River Power Company it was noticed that the rocks near the
river were covered with what appeared to be oil — perhaps it
was oil. At any rate a promoter from Pennsylvania was soon
active in convincing the people that there was no mistake
about it. He sank a shaft in the rock, poured in a few barrels
of good oil from Pennsylvania and then invited prospective in-
vestors to see what his pump could do. When they saw him
pump real oil from the ground, of course, they invested in his
project. Their investment yielded large dividends in experi-
,ence, but the city did not grow and only its name survived.
EPISODES
a39
THE COVERED BRIDGE
This bridge across the Farmington River on Palisado Avenue
was built in 1854 to replace another built in 18S3, which had recently-
been carried away by a flood. The bridge of 1854 stood until 1916, when
it was demolished and replaced by the present steel structure.
The Little Red Schoolhouse
This poem was written in 1927 by Marguerite Bruyn
Laughlin a graduate of the Windsor High School whose early
school days had been passed in the Pigeon Hill Schoolhouse.
It brings a mist to many eyes,
And hearts will skip a beat,
That the little old red schoolhouse
Where the dusty cross-roads meet.
No longer nestles sturdily
Beneath the tall old trees;
Nor hears within, the drowsy hum
Of 'Rithmetic and A B C's.
No longer in the noonday shade
Is heard the school-boy's lore.
No more do eager "kids" bang wide
The out-flung old white door,
And troop forth in the sunshine
And discuss the "marks" they get;
Or risks they took in passing notes,
Or call some "Teacher's pet!"
Oh, don't you all remember
At recess time the fun
In playing Farmer in the Dell
Out in the spring-time sun?
And once we had some see-saws,
And how with wrath we'd burn
If some two kept it longest
And ignored the cries, "My turn!"
340 OLD WINDSOR
Some days we'd play Black Spider
And be a cake or pie
And when Black Spider guessed us
We'd yell and how we'd fly!
But only girls and tiny boys
Were they who played this game,
The older boys scorned sissy-play,
And boosted baseball's fame
Behind the small brick schoolhouse.
Or played leap-frog and tag.
But when the school bell jangled
They would loiter 'round and lag.
In two long straggling lines they'd form
"Girls, pass" — "Boys, pass," came next.
Soon flushed, rebellious faces
Were bent above the text.
No specializing was there then
Amongst the mobs and masses.
Poor teacher then taught seven grades
From biggest ones to baby classes.
In winter time the old iron stove
With heat waves was a-quiver,
The pupils near it were too warm,
Those farthest off" would shiver.
"Days of real sport" were those days
When we would never fail
To want a drink out in the hall,
And dipped it from an ice-skimmed pail.
Do you remember Christmas time
The plays and recitations.
The way we'd sing and then recite
And keep in mind a week's vacation?
And multifold and very weird
The presents Teacher got.
From hat pins down to crocheted mats,
She scarce could hold the lot.
We never sang or "spoke our piece"
More fervently or clearer
Than at the Closing Day of school.
Vacation hovered nearer.
EPISODES 341
Then fruit jars filled with daisies
Flanked the platform up in front,
And little girls in starchy dress
Went thru their vocal stunt.
And sheepish, grinning, bashful boys
Sang too — The last of school!
Already they were visioning
Baseball and swimming pool.
Once out of sight and down the road,
. Away from warning eye
Each year the echoes they'd awake
With school-day's old derisive cry:
"No more school, no more books,
No more Teacher's sassy looks!"
But the little old red schoolhouse
Unsafe, and full of chinks,
Stands no longer near the crossroads;
Fickle Fate, the sly old minx.
Has decreed the red school's passing.
No time has the busy town
To consider past-day merits,
So the schoolhouse is torn down.
, Busy Commerce bought the ground there,
Filled with business-like elation,
Thought the cross-roads just the right place
To erect a filling station.
Once the meadows wafted fragrance
To the ling'ring passer-by.
Hearing shouts of noisy school boys.
But the past must fade and die.
Now the only odor wafted
Now the only sound or scene
Is the hum of throbbing motors
And the smell of gasoline.
Marguerite Bruyn Laughlin, June, 1927.
342
OLD WINDSOR
Physical Education
Specially coached athletics became a part of the high
school program soon after the completion of the John Fitch
High School in 1922. The gradual introduction of playground
apparatus for the graded schools followed and supervised
sports and games became a part of the regular school pro-
gram. Scenes like the following were soon common.
THE PLAYGROUND OF THE ROGER WOLCOTT SCHOOL
ON THE HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETIC FIELD
EPISODES 343
The Windsor Trust Company
The subject of a bank in Windsor attracted little atten-
tion before 1911. On May 23 of that year as the result of a
short intensive campaign by a few earnest advocates of home
banking facilities, a charter was obtained. In 1913 the bank
was organized and it opened its doors for business in February,
1914, in the brick building at the point where Broad Street
turns into Poquonock Avenue. Here the business was carried
on and grew until new quarters were found desirable and land
was bought for the erection of a building to be used for bank
purposes only. The business was moved to this attractive
and well equipped brick structure on the west side of Broad
Street between Maple Avenue and Elm Street on September
15, 1929. Here it has carried on successfully in the midst of
financial changes and disturbances that have shaken the
foundations of almost countless other banking institutions.
Its financial standing is shown by the following statement
made at the close of last year (1934).
STATEMENT AS OF DECEMBER 31, 1934
Resources :
Cash on hand and in Banks $ 418,359.50
United States Bonds 113,398.24
Other Bonds and Stocks 3,015.00
Town Notes 61,000.00
Loans on Collateral 267,122.59
Discounts and Demand Loans 132,753.49
Real Estate Mortgages 403,640.00
Overdrafts 16.25
Banking House and Other Real Estate 104,366.26
Letter of Credi-t 400.00
$1,504,071.83
344 OLD WINDSOR
Liabilities :
Capital Stock $ 100,000.00
Surplus and Undivided Profits 117,642.07
Reserved for Taxes and Interest 10,764.20
Due to Banks 6,937.27
Reserved for January 1, 1935 Dividend 5,000.00
Deposits (Saving and Commercial) 1,263,327.79
Letter of Credit 400.00
$1,504,071.33
George R. Ford was the first president of the bank and
continued in this position until February, 1930, when he be-
came chairman of the Board of Directors and was succeeded
as president by Earl E. Edwards.
Those who have held the office of treasurer have been:
John C. Loomis until 1915
WilHam P. Calder until 1919
Edwin T. Garvin until July, 1922
Harold T. Nearing until August, 1924
Earl E. Edwards until February, 1930
George W. Bill since February, 1930
Howard L. Pelton is assistant treasurer.
The present board of directors are:
George R. Ford, Chairman
Cecil A. Dickinson
James J. Dillon
Earl E. Edwards
Donald R. Griswold
John E. Luddy
;_ Charles G. Sandman
John B. Stewart
Oliver J. Thrall
346
OLD WINDSOR
Old Houses
In 1933 during Windsor's Tercentenary Celebration of
the settlement of the town an exhaustive research was carried
on by Leland P. Wilson to determine the number and the age
of the houses built before 1800 and still standing. This re-
search revealed the following data. Though the houses listed
were all built before 1800 many of them have been remodeled
or enlarged since that date.
Present Owner
Waldo C. Everett
(See Cut on Page 19-2)
Walter H. Smith
Edward Hebebrand
John L. Firtion et al
Florence Snelgrove
Theo. F. Neuhaus
L, C. Capewell
F. S. Bidwell
Mary E. Parker
Miss E. E. Geer et al
Louis A. Clapp
Everett S. Williams
Anders Christensen
L. L. Rand
Johanna B. Young
Antonio Mantello
Mary L. Phelps et al
L R. Dodge et al
O. W. Mills
O. W. Mills
Margaret Readett
Eldon L. French
Date Built
1640 or before
About 1791 by Gideon Bar-
ber, moved here and re-
modeled
About 1754 by Capt. David
Barber
About 1795 by Thos. Moore,
Jr. moved here and remod-
eled
Prior to 1798 by Henry Allyn
Prior to 1771 by Jonathan
Ellsworth
1790 by Ethan Barker
1786 by Capt. Sam'l Allyn
1735 by Capt. Sam'l
Stoughton
1750 by John Hoskins
1799 by Roswell Miller
1783 by Capt. Hez. Marsh
1768 by Elijah Barber
About 1787 by Lory Drake
1790 by Elijah Barber, Jr.
1773 by Lemuel Drake
1737 by Phineas Drake
About 1750 by Capt. Benj.
Allyn
1670 by Thomas Eggleston
1747 by Samuel Drake
1796 by Eli'sha Moore
1772 by Serajah Loomis
Location
Cor. of Poq. Ave. and East St^
361 Poquonock Ave.
Near Hayden's Pines
56-58 Maple Ave.
175 Broad St.
161 Palisado Ave.
335 Palisado Ave.
616 Palisado Ave.
546 Palisado Ave.
560 Palisado Ave.
602 Palisado Ave.
34 Windsor Ave.
So. Meadow Rd.
195 Windsor Ave.
227 Windsor Ave.
476 Windsor Ave.
526 Windsor Ave.
546 Windsor Ave.
573 Windsor Ave.
631-3 Windsor Ave.
699 Windsor Ave.
949 Windsor Ave.
EPISODES
347
Present Owner
B. A. Dorph
Est. W. W. Loomis
F. A. Hagarty
Mable K. Tyler
Miss Frances Bissel
R. I. Seymour
Windsor Public Library
Miss Jennie Loomis
Date Built
1798 by Ira Loomis, Sr.
1798 by Geo. Warner
1787 by Benj. Loomis
1752 by Capt. Nath'l Loomis
About 1675 by John Moore
1796 by Job Drake, moved
here and remodeled
1777 by Col. Oliver Mather
1690 by Dea. John Loomis
Ell by Jos. Loomis 1640
Location
1037 Windsor Ave.
1004-6 Windsor Ave.
1065 Windsor Ave.
1174 Windsor Ave.
390 Broad St.
26 Stinson PI.
323-5 Broad St.
Island
Est. Horace Clark
Myrtle M. Barnes
H. H. Ellsworth
Edw. W. Mack
Norman Eddy
F. Lutkevicz
THE LOOMIS HOMESTEAD
1664 by Dea. John Moore
moved here and remodeled
1745 by Dr. Alex. Wolcott
1732 by Capt. Roger New-
berry
1767 by Elisha Cook
1742 by John Roberts
1735 by Benedict Alvord
35 Elm St.
Broad and Phelps Sts,
180-2 Broad St.
35 Mack St.
84 Poquonock Ave.
103 Poquonock Ave.
348
OLD WINDSOR
Present Owner
F. S. Bidwell
Town
Town
Adin Hatheway
Jos. Cranowski
James Burns
U. Yuscavitch
Mable K. Tyler
Henry W. Thrall
Mrs. J. 0. Fenton
C. S. Sawyer et al
Louis E. Holcomb
Herbert A. Holcomb
Est. Maria Phelps
Mrs. C. M. Kendrick
Timothy Harrington
Stanton F. Brown
R. A. Hagarty
Mrs. Kate Alford
Oscar Parsons
Miss Ellen Kennedy
Clark Bros.
Grace W. Holcomb
F. Kirkbride
Leone Merwin
Anna Slipkawkas
Harry Griswold
Joseph Wolf
Lillian G. Fales
John Welch
John Laverty
Magdalina Brozowsky
First Church of Christ
Paul Kazanouski
Eliz. H. J. Robinson
Jos. A. Oldroyd
Date Built
1732 by John Palmer
1730 by Daniel Phelps
1670 by William Phelps
About 1650 by John Hillier
1766 by Joel Palmer
1785 by EHakim Marshall
1746 by Samuel Phelps
1704 by Cornelius Phelps
1772 by Job Phelps
1777 by Isaac Pinney
1799 by Grove Clark
1785 by Francis Griswold
1776 by Moses Niles
1775 by William Phelps
1796 by Joshua Latham
1792 by Abiel Griswold
1799 by Friend Griswold
1752 by Joseph Barnard
1795 by Roderick Holcomb
1787 by Naomi Griswold
1752 by Martin Holcomb
1770 by John Phelps
1782(?) by John Ross
1792 by Edward Phelps
1762 by Capt. J. Palmer, Jr.
1782 by Ben j. Moore
1761 by Geo. Griswold, Jr.
1777 by Hezekiah Griswold
1789 by Phineas Griswold
1798 by Cyrus Phelps
About 1790 by Capt. Sil-
vanus Griswold
About 1765 by Isaac Phelps
1794
About 1790 by Capt. Eben-
ezer Fitch Bissell
1753 by Rev. Wm. Russell
About 1775 by Benoni Dens-
low
Location
24-26 East St.
102 East St.
122 East St.
140 East St.
N/S Pigeon Hill Rd.
S/S Pigeon Hill Rd.
583 Poquonock Ave.
601 Poquonock Ave.
815 Poquonock Ave.
1043 Poquonock Ave,
1075 Poquonock Ave.
1207 Poquonock Ave.
1257 Poquonock Ave.
1355 Poquonock Ave.
1289 Poquonock Ave.
1397 Poquonock Ave.
1531 Poquonock Ave.
1601 Poquonock Ave.
N/S Griffin or Elm Gr. Rd.
S/S Griffin or Elm Gr. Rd.
S/S Griffin or Elm Gr. Rd.
S/S Griffin or Elm Gr. Rd.
N/S West St.
630 Poquonock Ave.
760 Poquonock Ave.
916 Poquonock Ave.
1090 Poquonock Ave.
1290 Poquonock Ave.
1312 Poquonock Ave.
1368 Poquonock Ave.
1832 Poquonock Ave.
268 East Granby Rd.
1022 Palisado Ave.
101 Palisado Ave.
E/S Windsor Locks Rd.
EPISODES
349
Present Owner
James Moran
Annie Sill
Est. Mary Carey-
Anton G. Arens
Eliz. T. Samuels
Christen Christensen
Sarah Morehouse
Timothy J. Kennedy
Mary Stakevitch
Bessie Elmer
Geo. Hoskins et al
Willard Drake
Willard Drake
James Simmons
Windsor Hist. Society
(See Cut on Page 189)
F. W. Morgan
James Garvan
Alice Morgan et al
F. W. Morgan
Ralph Morgan
Mrs. Minnie Hastings et al
Loomis Institute
Loomis Institute
E. J. Phelps et al
John Granger
Thomas Garvin et al
H. H. Ellsworth
D. A. R.
(See Cut on Page 268)
Samuel Shoham
Annie Sill
Date Built
1787 by Daniel Porter
1790 by Dorson Drake
1740 by Alex. Ellsworth
1791 by Moses Mitchell
moved here and remodeled
About 1764 by Taylor Chap-
man
About 1827 by Wm. Thrall
1747 moved here and re-
modeled
1772 by John Gaylord
1750 by Capt. David Ells-
worth
1773 by Isaac Hayden
1783 by Alpheus Munsell
1763 by Capt. Nath'l Hayden
1770 by John Hayden
1737 by Sgt. Samuel Hayden
1640 by Lt. Walter Fyler
1730 by Capt. Samuel Cross
1786 by Jonathan Alvord
About 1780 by Elisha Strong
Prior to 1726 by Return
Strong
Prior to 1800 (moved to
present location)
About 1767 by Thos. Hayden
1765 by Hezekiah Chaffee
1772 by James Hooker
1790 by Horace Hooker
1790 by Elijah Mather
1767 by Elijah Mather
1784 by Jonathan Ellsworth
1740 by Jonathan Ellsworth
ISOObyJosiahBissell
1800 by Dr. Elisha N. Sill
Location
N/S 25 Pierson Lane
225 Palisado Ave.
273 Palisado Ave.
375 Palisado Ave.
407 Palisado Ave.
495 Palisado Ave.
531 Palisado Ave.
597 Palisado Ave.
761 Palisado Ave.
957 Palisado Ave.
1055 Palisado Ave.
130 Pink St.
162-4 Pink St.
216 Pink St.
96 Palisado Ave.
North Meadow Rd.
North Meadow Rd.
North Meadow Rd.
North Meadow Rd.
34 Palisado Ave.
North Meadow Rd.
108 Palisado Ave.
118 Palisado Ave.
204 Palisado Ave.
248 Palisado Ave.
256 Palisado Ave.
336 Palisado Ave.
Palisado Ave.
924 Palisado Ave.
200 Palisado Ave.
350
OLD WINDSOR
The Allyn House
The famous Allyn House built by Squire Henry AUyn
who died in 1753 was occupied by the builder and his family
and also by his son Squire Henry who died in 1804. As justice
of the peace these two "Squires" administered justice to two
generations in all parts of Hartford County.
Their home stood just north of the later home of Judge
H. Sidney Hayden where the Episcopal Rectory now
stands and was considered during the life time of its builder
the grandest house in town.
Here was the center of the community's social activities
and here also was the "Squire's" court of justice. It was
painted red and was an imposing structure. It is related that
a child from a distant part of the town saw it for the first time
and reported to his parents that he had seen "Heaven, the
big house where the angels live." It was standing in a dilapi-
dated condition in 1859, and must have been torn down soon
after that date.
EPISODES
351
LEGION HOME
In its day the Allyn House reproduced above made history
as a social center. Today there is no private home that can
be regarded as its successor, but the American Legion Home,
formerly the home for many years of Dr. Frederick W. Harri-
man has made history as a center of culture and moral in-
fluence and it seems destined to continue to make history as
the center from which the American Legion exert their social
and moral influence upon the boys' and girls' organizations
that they sponsor and upon the general community. With this
thought in mind it is here reproduced as the history making
home of today.
Looking Towards the Future
The last quarter of a century has seen more numerous
and more rapid changes than any previous period of equal
length in Windsor's history. The momentum of the past and
the opportunities of the present make it necessary to expect
and prepare for more and greater changes in the future.
The town has been favored by nature. Her soil, her
climate, and her natural surroundings and attractions can
hardly be surpassed. These were discovered by the early
pioneers and must have had their influence in causing the first
English settlers to build here in the year 1633. They have
their influence still in bringing new home seekers to the
Ancient Town.
The town has developed one of the best highway systems
in a state noted for good roads and streets. Its school system
iias taken rank among the most liberal, practical, and thorough
352 OLD WINDSOR
educational systems in Connecticut. Its government has been
alert and public spirited and changes policies and methods to
fit the changing needs of modern social and political conditions.
Its churches, fraternal organizations, and social groups abun-
dantly provide for the social and religious life.
Wilson and Windsor Center have district organizations-
that furnish practically urban government in the matter of
streets, sewers, water, and sanitation. These villages and
Poquonock have efficient fire companies, which offer protec-
tion to their own residents and also to outlying districts.
Growth is inevitable. Therefore provision to meet its necessi-
ties is dictated by wisdom and experience, and the recent
period of the "great depression" has been utilized to provide
plans for future needs.
The federal aid that came to Windsor during the period
of the Washington Bicentennial was largely utilized in build-
ing Washington Memorial Park at Windsor Center, thus pro-
viding a much needed recreation ground for the community.
Other parks are needed.
In September, 1934, with the support of the federal gov-
ernment a project was set on foot to study the existing condi-
tions in the town from a municipal engineering point of view.
The project was carried out under the direction of Edgar
T. Duncan, an experienced municipal engineer, who was placed
in charge of ten assistants.
The first product of this enterprise was a land use map,
showing every piece of property and every building in the
town and the uses to which they are put. This map, seven
by ten feet in size, now hangs in the town hall at Windsor
Center.
The next enterprise was concerned with education. A
study was made to determine the number of pupils in the
different areas of the town, the valuation of the property in
those areas, the tax income per pupil, and the possible sites
for school buildings probably needed for future schools.
Another study dealt with the subject of a civic center
and suggestive plans and drawings were made of a possible
home for the town's official business with offices for all depart-
EPISODES 353
ments, rooms for a library, the historical society, and the town
court, and an auditorium for community gatherings.
Another study will provide similarly for Poquonock and
the rest of the town.
Parks and playgrounds will receive special attention.
By July, 19S6, it is planned to complete a survey of every
street in the town not already surveyed and chartered.
The records of vital statistics and other town records
not fully indexed in the past have now been indexed, classi-
fied, and arranged in a systematic manner that adds greatly
to their usefulness.
This is one of the many signs that while Windsor is study-
ing her past and celebrating its achievements, she is looking
toward the future and planning for a greater, a richer, and a
better life in the years to come.
Windsor Newspapers
The Ancient Town waited long and patiently for the com-
ing of a local newspaper. Then on January 1, 1886, the
Windsor Herald was born. Its front page was headed by a
letter from the well known historian of Ancient Windsor, Dr.
Henry R. Stiles, who had been invited to contribute some-
thing for publication. The opening paragraph of his letter
began with these words:
My dear Sir,
Write for your paper? Shade of Matthew Grant! that
eminent recorder of current events in old Windsor's history —
what next? A newspaper in Windsor! Well, you must be a
brave man to suggest such a thing.
The editorial page was prefaced by this announcement:
Circulation,
2,000 Copies, Free.
W. C. Gompf, Editor
Windsor, Friday, January 1.
354 OLD WINDSOR
The Editor then continued as follows :
SALUTATION
"We have no axe to grind. We do not promise to appear
more than once. Our object is to 'promote the general wel-
fare.' Windsor is a beautiful and attractive place, and must
ultimately become a suburb of the 'Hub' It is the purpose of
the HERALD to present some of the country advantages of
the town to the city folks, hoping to induce some of them to
locate here. We have no blows to give, nor any apologies to
make. Our fight is against the evils of the place, and not men.
If this issue serves to deepen the love for the old town in any
of its citizens' hearts, our end will have been attained."
That the purpose of the paper was the social and civic im-
provement of the town is shown by the following extracts
from articles appearing in the pages of its first issue.
WHY WE OUGHT TO HAVE A TOWN LIBRAEY
One of the great needs of our town is some place for both
young and old to spend their evenings, and what could be better
suited to meet this need than a public reading room and
library ? We boast of our town as one of the oldest and most
cultered in the commonwealth, yet we do little to increase this
culture, or even to keep the literary standard of our people on
a par with neighboring towns. Will not some or our towns-
people realize the advantage — not only morally and mentally,
but financially — that money spent in establishing a library and
reading-room would be to the town ? Five or six thousand dol-
lars would put the enterprise upon a firm basis. Then, with ju-
dicious management, it could be made nearly or quite self-
supporting. '
It is true we are near Hartford, but how few can make
use of the libraries there — not more than six or eight. We
want a library here in our midst, with its shelves well filled, and
the sooner this is appreciated by our good citizens, the better
it will be for the welfare of our town.
THE BRIDGE
New bridges are now made open and constructed of iron.
Fenton's bridge is not that kind of a bridge. It is quite long,
made of wood, covered, sides close witho.ut an opening, dark
EPISODES 355
and musty. The town pays $50 per year to light (?) the
structure, but a good sized diamond would give as much light
on a dark night as one small lantern. At the top of the west
side of the bridge several boards are off, whether by intention
or not we don't know, but how could we find our way throiugh
the long tunnel without the blessed rays of light streaming
through those openings ? A man must eat a peck of dirt during
his life, but we surmise that the people from the north end of
the town must have made way with somebody else's share also,
unless they cross the river in a boat.
BROAD STREET RAILROAD CROSSING
We have waited long, and we are waiting still, but the
consolidated road couldn't treat any other town so ill as they
have Windsor in regard to this crossing. The street leads to
the chapel, Congregational church, the North Green, Haydens,
Springfield, Boston, and unto death. It would puzzle Nico-
demus more to tell why a railroad company waits for a man
to be killed, and then to be sued, paying heavy damages, before
erecting a gate, than what conversion is.
THE WINDSOR WATE,R WORKS
Hon. H. Sidney Hayden, President.
In 1869, Judge Hayden purchased the property of the
Sequassen Woolen Co., whose mill had been destroyed by fire.
This property included their reservoir and line of piping to the
mill.
Mr. Hayden had the reservoir carefully cleaned and en-
larged, but finding the old pipe was of inferior quality, laid
new mains to the centre, of six and eight-inch cast iron pipe ;
these mains as provided with Hydrants on Maple Afi^enue and
Broad Street, furnish protection from fire. After two years,
finding that the ponded water in the reservoir was not always
of the best quality, he went about one-half mile further west
and built storage wells at the springs, where the water bubbles
directly from the sand and is so pure and clear as to merit its
name of "Crystal Spring."
There are three of these wells, having a capacity of fifteen
thousand gallons, so arranged that they can be used separately.
356 OLD WINDSOR
if desired. From these wells the water is conducted to the
village and there distributed in about one hundred places.
There are nearly three-fourths of a mile of cast iron pipe,
and two and one-fourth miles of galvanized pipe laid, making
the entire cost of the water works about nine thousand dollars.
In connection with the water supply, Mr. Hayden constructed a
sewer from the corner of Spring Street and Maple avenue
through and beyond the Avenue to the east side of the rail-
road, giving the residents of the avenue all the city advantages
of water and sewers.
In 1871 the legislature granted a charter to the Windsor
Water Co., and in 1885, Mr. Hayden organized the Company,
of which he is President and Treasurer, and which now owns
and operates the Windsor Water Works.
GUN MAKING IN 1®86
Among the interesting advertisements is one by the Spen-
cer Arms Company, which contains this statement :
"Our shops at Windsor are now turning out 10 Guns
per day, and that does not keep pace with the increasing
demand for this gun."
The gun referred to was the Spencer Repeating Shotgun.
This newspaper continued its issue until July 1, 1886, when
Mr. Gompf , who had been an ardent advocate of the prohibition
of the saloon, turned his paper over to the National Issue, a
prohibition newspaper, which continued the Herald as a
supplement until the original paid-up subscriptions had ex-
pired.
"THE DIAL"
Ten years later another Windsor publication appeared —
this time in the form of a magazine to be issueid monthly. Its
title was "The Dial." Its first issue headed "A Journal Devoted
to the Interests of the Town of Windsor" was dated June 1,
1896.
Its official announcement read :
Board of Editors
Editor in Chief, Howard W. Benjamin
Editorial Writers, Henry A. Huntington, R. Arthur Hagarty
EPISODES
357
Art Editor, C. Robert Hatheway
Business Manager, George J, Merwin
This magazine was a high grade production, judged by-
all the usual tests, but only four issues came from the press.
THE TOWN ORHER
In January, 1916, a third venture in journalism was
launched. The Town Crier extended New Year's Greetings to
the people of Windsor. The editor and publisher was George
E. Crosby, Jr., whose purpose and ambition was to promote
a more active interest on the part of Windsor citizens in the
civic, social and industrial problems of the Ancient Town.
He took as his model propagandist the Town Crier, an
honored official of colonial communities in many parts of
New England but one not prominent in Windsor history. For
358
OLD WINDSOR
this reason Mr. Crosby had to go outside the limits of Connecti-
cut to find a modern representative of this ancient news dis-
penser. He found him in Provincetown, Massachusetts, a town
that still delights to listen to the voice of its Town Crier as
he promulgates important announcements and proclaims news
of unusual interest and significance. The preceding cut of this
Provincetown celebrity became emblematic of Mr. Crosby's
publication.
The Windsor Town Crier appeared regularly each month
for two full years, after which Mr. Crosby found the burden
too great for a man already heavily loaded with other respon-
sibilities, and it was discontinued.
Its pages today furnish a most valuable record of the
typical activities of Windsor at the time of their publication.
Biographical sketches of many Windsor men and women are
THE HUEBARD HOUSE AND WILSON AVEiNiUE
The upper illustration shows the Hubbard House on Windsor
Avenue at the top of the hill north of Wolcott Avenue. It is the oldest
brick house in Windsor. Built by Thoinas Eggleston and sold to Thomas
Allen. The lower view shows Wilson Avenue looking east.
EPISODE.S
359
here preserved. Many phases of early town history receive
careful study whose results the Town Crier announced in con-
cise and accurate reports. The publication was popular and its
influence was helpful to every cause its editor espoused.
Each number carried the Editor's Salutation to his loved
Windsor: "In years, the Oldest Town in the State; in Spirit,
The Youngest!" He made it a treasure house of the things
he loved and prized in Windsor's life and history. Every
number was profusely illustrated. There were portraits of
well known persons, cuts of historic houses, and views of
historic or sentimental interest. Three typical illustrations we
reproduce.
THE FEREY LANE
This lane is a continuation of the short road running south from
the southeast corner of Palisado Green. It runs east and southeast to
the river bank where the ferry boats landed and took on passengers in
early colonial times.
ON THE OLD ROAD TO HARTFORD
A view of the now unused road south of Loomis Institute
360
OLD WINDSOR
AN'OTHER "WINDSOR HEiRALD"
The next interval covered eight years and another
Windsor Herald appeared in the Spring of 1926 with Hugh Bal-
lantyne as editor in charge Later the Rev. Victor L. Green-
wood was associated with him. In less than three years Mr.
Bailantyne withdrew from the management, and a few months
later, on May 16, 1929, Frank E. Perley, formerly of New York,
became the head of a new company known as the Windsor Pub-
lishing Company, which continues to issue the paper — a
weekly — from its office in the Casino on the east side of Broad
Street Green.
A CHRISTMAS EPISODE
Children in the public schools are taught to rememiber the needy
and the less fortunate at Chi'istmas time. Thes-e pupils in the Roger
Wolcott School bring potatoes one day, apples the next, and pennies
the third. Then they sing carols around a Christmas tree and divide
their gifts between a representative of the Community Church and a
representative of St. Gei-trude's Church, who distriTbute them to those
in want.
Celebrations
This book comes into being because during- this year
(1935) all Connecticut is holding a Tercentenary Celebration.
It is a Tercentenary production intended to be a part of
Windsor's contribution to the State's program. Windsor cele-
brated the Tercentenary of her own settlement in 1933.
Windsor has had other notable celebrations that have told the
story of the past. In 1876 she celebrated the Centennial of
American Independence. In 1880 she celebrated the Quarter
Millenial Anniversary of Ye Ancient Church in Windsor, which
is the oldest Congregational Church in America, the oldest
church of any kind in Connecticut, and the church whose early
history was almost identical with the early history of the
town.
Therefore the history of the First Church together with
much other early history is taken from the carefully prepared
papers and addresses that were an important part of the pro-
grams of those historic occasions.
A card sent out in 1876 to the people of Windsor and the
nearby daughter towns of Old Windsor read:
WINDSOR
The Oldest Town in Connecticut.
Centennial Picnic on Broad Street Green,
July 4th, 1876, at 11 A. M.
All the inhabitants of Windsor are hereby requested to join
in rendering suitable testimonial in honor of the cojning Fourth
of July.
We remember gratefully our noble heritage; the first page
of one hundred years proves its value.
H. Sidney Hayden, Thomas W. Loomis, T. S. Phelps, R. D.
Case, and Thomas Duncan were the Committee of Arrange-
ments, who extended the invitation.
362 OLD WINDSOR
Jabez H. Hayden of Windsor Locks delivered the histor-
ical address from which the following excerpts are taken.
One hundred years ago today, a Windsor soldier in the
city of Iview York sat down to write a letter to his parents.
Two days before, Washington had issued an order to the army,
portraying the perilous condition of the country, and the
momentous interests at stake in the impending battle. Find-
ing in this order what best expressed his own sentiments re-
garding the situation, the soldier copied from it until drum-
beat called him to lay aside his pen, and resume his musket.
Camp New York, July 4, 1776.
Honored Father and Mother:
"The time is now near at hand which must probably de-
termine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves:
whether they are to have any property they can call their own ;
whether their houses and farms are to be pillaged and de-
stroyed, and they consigned to a state of wretchedness from
which no human efforts will probably deliver them. The fate
of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage
and conduct of this army. Our cruel and unrelenting enemy
leaves us no choice but a brave resistance, or the most abject
submission. This is all we can expect. We have, therefore,
to resolve to conquer or die. Our country's honor calls upon
us for a vigorous and manly exertion, and if we now shame-
fully fail, we shall become infamous to the whole world. Let
us rely upon the goodness of our cause, and the aid of the
Supreme Being, in whose hands victory is, to animate and
encourage us to great and noble actions. The eyes of all our
countrymen are now upon us, and we shall have their blessings
and praises if, happily, we are the instruments of saving them
from the tyranny meditated against them.
Let us animate and encourage each other, and show to the
whole world that a freeman contending for liberty on his own
ground, is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth.
The General recommends to the officers great coolness in
time of action, and to the soldiers strict attention and obedi-
ence, with a becoming firmness of spirit."
CELEBRATIONS 363
The drum beats, and I must turn out with fatigue men and
main guard. 'Tis, thanks be to God, pretty healthy in the
army.
Your affectionate son,
Hezekiah Hayden.
While this soldier, to whom we shall again refer, sat copy-
ing these noble sentiments in New York, John Hancock and
his associates were signing the Declaration of Independence
at Philadelphia — a declaration which would have availed
nothing, but for the good right arms of the soldiers who de-
fended it, and the patriotic zeal of those at home, who sus-
tained the soldiers. It is fitting that we today recall some of
the sacrifices and services rendered by this mother of towns,
in the accomplishment of the Independence which this great
nation celebrates today. It is fitting that the children come
forth today to honor the worthies who one hundred years ago
won our independence, and take lessons in love of country,
from the story of the past.
None of the school children before me have ever looked
upon a soldier of the Revolution. Some in middle life have
talked with those whose memory ran back to 1776, and a few
of us who have lived more than half a century have listened
to the tales of the old soldiers themselves. We will repeat
something from these revolutionary stories, and then turn
back to history to examine briefly what had been the training
of the generations which preceded them, and which qualified
the people of 1776 to deliberately meet, and bravely endure,
the fearful trials of that culminating hour in our history, which
severed our colonial dependence and gave us Independence.
Open hostilities had broken out between the people of
Massachusetts and the mother country more than a year before
the signing of the declaration.
I need not tell these school boys of Paul Revere's ride to
rouse the people to resist the British soldiers who were leaving
Boston to destroy the military stores at Concord, or the re-
sistance they met. There was no telegraphic communication
to say to the people of Connecticut on that 19th day of April,
1775, what was being done at Lexington and Concord. But
364 OLD WINDSOR
when those "Red-coats" had been pelted back to Boston, there
went forth couriers to spread the alarm through New England.
The day after, on the 20th of April, the people of this part of
Windsor were attending the funeral of their Pastor, Rev. Mr.
Russell. While they were engaged in these services, either at
their church, which then stood at the north end of this green,
or assembled around his open grave, a rider drew up his pant-
ing steed, and told of the Battle of Lexington. The funeral
services ended, men hurried to their homes and seized their
muskets; the dreaded war had come. In imitation of Paul
Revere, another rider on a fresh horse caught up the shout,
"And a hurry of hoofs in a village street"
soon carried the dispatch to SufReld, and thus from town to
town spread the "Lexington alarm." That night was one of
preparation. Many a wife and mother toiled through the
night, to equip a soldier, ready to go forth on the morrow.
When mustered on that 21st day of April, 1775, there stood
twenty-three Windsor men with Captain Nathaniel Hayden at
their head, who at once took up their march towards Boston.
Through all that summer and the coming winter, Windsor men
were enlisting into the army, and when July 4th, 1776, was
reached, Windsor was almost depleted of her able-bodied men.
The little neighborhood of Pinemeadow, now Windsor Locks,
consisted of nine families, — the head of all but one of those
families was in the army. The British had been driven out
of Boston, and were now advancing on New York, and it was
of momentous importance to the colonies that New York be
held. 10,000 Connecticut soldiers were in New York in August,
1776.
While the men were bearing arms to uphold the Declara-
tion, the women took up the implements of husbandry, and
toiled in fields. Many a sunburnt girl who took up the work
of a brother, or father, to supply the necessities of the family,
took up that work with a patriotic zeal equal to that of the
soldier whose place she filled, and many a doting mother, or
loving wife, put forth heroic efforts to feed the children at
home, and the soldiers at the front. Then there came a time,
when the stern law of necessity required from every barn in
Windsor, all the grain there found, above a given amount for
CELEBRATIONS 36^
each member of the household depending upon it. And again
the constituted authorities went forth in search of lead for
bullets.* There came a time when not a clock was running in
Windsor; the lead weights of the last one had been run into
bullets.
*"Lead delivered to the Town's Men, 1776. Clock weight lead." Capt.
Stoughton, 18 lbs. Capt. Ellsworth, 30 lbs. Rev. Mr. Hinsdale, 13 lbs,
Josiah Allen, 28 lbs. David Ellsworth, Jr., 24 lbs. Daniel Hayden, 24
lbs., and John Allen, 14 lbs.— Town Records.
We smile when we think of a people submitting to such
exactions, a people who were periling everything in resistance
to the exactions of King George, and the maintenance of the
Declaration of Independence. There were those who failed to
see the corresponding good. Mr. Eliakim Mather, who lived
on the street nearly a mile north of the old church, declared
the taking of his clock weights to be an illegal and arbitrary
act, and took an oath that his clock should stand without
weights, until the authority which took them away, returned
them. Through all the long 30 years of the old man's after
life, the old clock was to him an unmoved witness to his per-
severing observance of his oath; and when, at the age of 84,
he looked for the last time upon the face of his clock, it still
gave no sound.
Alarms called forth volunteers from time to time, when
the enemy threatened some portion of our own state. The
"Danbury Alarm" was responded to by Mr. Daniel Phelps, a
man of more than three score years and ten, (grandfather of
the late Deacon Roger Phelps), and the late Deacon Daniel
Gillett, and probably others. Each was mounted and carrying
a musket hastened forward only to meet the returning volun-
teers, who told of the burning of Danbury, and the retreat of
the British. The old man sighed that he could not get "one
shot at the Red-coats." But turning back he reached a ferry
where numbers of impatient riders were waiting their turn,
who with one consent declared that their rule should not apply
to the old man, and the old man's plea took his companion with
him. Late that night they reached the house of a friend,
where the weary old man, in utter exhaustion, laid him down
366 OLD WINDSOR
and died, and the younger volunteer returned to his home
alone.
Mr. Daniel Bissell, Jr., who lived half a mile this side of
Hayden Station, a man of iron nerve, was asked to take the
perilous office of a Spy. Washington had asked for a suitable
man, Daniel Bissell was named, and he accepted the position,
received his instructions, and like his predecessor, "the Martyr
Hale," he passed within the lines of the British. The thrilling
story of his experiences within the lines, and his final escape
from them, is too long to tell here. In my early childhood, in
nearly every second house north of the river, there lived an
old man who had been a soldier in the war of the Revolution,
and I doubt not, this side of the river, and through Poquonock
the same evidences of patriotism were equally manifest. More
than half a century after the close of the war the pension rolls
show more than fifty Windsor pensioners.
After the war was over there was a great work to be done
to establish over the whole country the system of government
so long before organized in New England. After twelve years
(from the date of the declartion), of inefficient government
under the Confederacy, our glorious Constitution was framed
and adopted. A distinguished citizen of Windsor, Oliver
Ellsworth, took a prominent part in the convention which
framed it, drafting the articles relating to the Judiciary.
CENTENNIAL ODE.
BY REV. R. H. TUTTLE.
(1.)
The Chroniclers have told
How Windsor castle oW
For centuries has been the home of kings;
The grandeur of the place,
Prized by the English race,
A thing of beauty which the poet sings.
(2.)
But Windsor castle here,
Built by a race austere.
By those who slept at night upon their arms,
Was the old Palisade
The Indian did invade,
Which Pilgrims guarded nightly 'mid alarms.
CELEBRATIONS 367
(3.)
Now after lapse of years
Of human briefs and fears,
The wonderous century plant for us doth bloom;
Ye nations of the earth
Come to our social hearth,
For unto all we gladly say, "give rocr.T."
(4.)
Though the wild winds may roar
Upon the mountain hoar,
And fearful lightnings hurtle through the sky;
Though waves of passion cast
Their fury 'fore the blast —
We know that God is nigh.
(5.)
For now the Northern star
Beams not on scenes of war,
Where once the battle poured its gory tide;
We mourn sad years of loss,
Yet still the Southern cro!>s
Bids us stand side by side.
(6.)
We still are brothers all,
And at our Country's call
Would each and all defend her to the last;
We ever pray for peace.
For years when war shall cease.
And hence for ever every strife be cast.
(7.)
Jesus of Bethlehem
We touch thy garment's hem,
As through the nations. Thou art passing by;
For prophets have foretold
That Thou art King, of old.
Yea, everlastingly.
(8.)
For all our worldly things.
Blessings, Thy Gospel brings.
And every gift Thy free rich grace affords;
Ever we bow to Thee,
Thy hand in all we see,
We hail Thee King of kings, and Lord of lords.
368 OiLD WINDSOR
Mr. Franklin Bolles, of Windsor, was introduced, and read
the following poem :
Windsor, thy sons today would crown
Thy name with honor and renown;
Thy daughters would their rivals be,
In the loved work of praising thee.
O, ancient, brave, historic town.
Thy name deserves the brightest crown;
And while thy praise the muses sing.
Our hearts a grateful tribute bring.
Among our towns thou wast first bom.
Thy first crops pumpkins, Indian com;
Brave men, and maidens sweet and fair.
Were also raised, with tenderest care.
'Twas here our fathers wrought in pain.
Freedom to sow, nor wrought in vain,
The seed brought forth a harvest grand.
That now waves over all our land.
The king had sent unto our shore
His minions, who the red coats wore;
And Indian foes, on either hand,
Were dwelling near, a treacherous band.
Those days were dark, men quaked with fear.
For many a tory, too, was here;
Those were the times that patriots tried.
Still they believed God would provide.
Upon a pleasant April morn,
When Russell* to his grave was borne.
When prayer was done, when read the Word,
The sound of hurrying hoofs was heard.
Then came the news. On panting steed
Came messenger with utmost speed.
Arouse! brave men, the war's begun,
At Concord, and at Lexington.
And hasty hoof to Suffield's farms.
Soon spread the Lexington alarms;
Man left the forge, the shop, the field.
Vowed that to Britain they'd ne'er yield.
*Rev. Mr. Russell.
qELEBRATIONS 369
That night in preparation spent,
At dawn of day they marching went.
They left their homes at rosy mom,
With blanket, musket, powder horn.
Those heroes, when the work was done
Assigned to them, beneath the sun.
On yonder hill, in peace were laid.
Their bones within the palisade.
Upon the scroll of deathless fame,
Should be inscribed the honored names
Of Windsor men, their brave compeers,
The noble men of those dark years.
In all things, for the good of man,
Old Windsor, she has led the van;
Her sons have helped to mould the State,
In all that's noble, good, or great.
The nation felt their moulding powers,
When passing through her darkest hours,
Their influence, down the years has passed,
And will through coming ages last.
Thy sturdy sons, whom God hath blest.
Are known throughout the mighty west,
From where Atlantic's billows roar.
They're dwellers to Pacific's shore.
Thy sons returning to our State,
If rich or poor, humble or great.
Where'er you dwell, where'er you roam,
Thrice welcome ever to our home.
Grandfather's chair is empty now.
And age your father's head doth bow;
Your mother soon will pass away;
'Tis well you're home again today.
Our fertile fields are fresh and green.
In nature's face God's love is seen;
He whispers in the passing breeze.
Sweet words drop from these grand old trees.
Our rivers, sparkling 'neath the sun,
Connecticut, and Farmington,
Once, o'er their waters deep and blue,
Floated the Indian's light canoe.
370 OLD WINDSOR
Where, 'neath these genial northern skies,
Save here, was Indians' paradise ?
Say! where do brighter waters gleam
Beneath the sun, than yonder stream?
Partridge and turkey did abound
Through all this Indian hunting ground,
But better now, on every plain.
We pluck the com, and reap the grain.
Gone from the woods are buck and doe;
No more we meet the savage foe;
Their bones, they mingle dust with dust,
Their buried hatchets changed to rust.
How great the change that Time hath wrought,
The freedom that the years have brought;
Our fathers sowed the seed in pain.
We garner freedom's ripened grain.
What father here can tell the son
The half a hundred years have done ?
What mighty change that steam hath wrought ?
The wisdom that the press hath taught ?
But, ah! the peace that reigneth here.
It cost the blood of brothers dear;
Fair maidens gave their dearest ones.
The widowed mothers gave their sons.
Weep not for those whose toils are o'er.
Sweet peace broods o'er the farther shore;
They're done with pain and earthly strife.
Are bom again to endless life.
My friends, today you may rejoice.
For the air rings with freedom's voice;
Beneath our vine and fig tree's shade
We sit, with none to make afraid.
O God, let peace reign o'er this land.
All nations form a brother band;
O'er bloody chasm let true men clasp
Their hands for aye, in friendly grasp.
And when we join our vanished ones,
O God, inspire our living sons;
And ever guided by thy will.
May Town and Nation prosper still.
CELEBRATIONS
371
Quarter Millenial of the First Church
The Quarter Millenial Anniversary of the First Church
was held March 30, 1880. The Rev. Gowen C. Wilson, then
Pastor, gave an address on the history of the Church from
which the following extracts are taken:
In 1629 three ships were sent over with between three and
four hundred persons, who set down at a place which they
called Salem, for they hoped to find there a home of peace,
where persecution would no longer harass them. In the Spring
THE REV. GOWEN C. WILSON
372 OLD WINDSOR
of the following year it was decided to remove the Government
of the colony to America, and a compact was signed by great
numbers in different parts of England who engaged to remove
thither, and a large fleet was collected for their transportation.
"These," says Green, "were not like the early colonists of the
South, broken men, adventurers, bankrupts, criminals, or
simply poor men and artizans like the Pilgrim Fathers of the
Mayflower. They were in great part men of the professional
and middle classes, some of them of large estate." Indeed,
they desired "only the best as sharers of their enterprize, —
men driven forth from their fatherland not by earthly want,
nor by the greed of gold, nor by love of adventure, but by the
fear of God and the zeal for a godly worship." Of this fleet
of seventeen ships which in 1630 brought over Gov. Winthrop
with his deputy and assistants, together with about fifteen
hundred souls, the first to sail was the "Mary and John" of
four hundred tons, with one hundred and forty passengers
from the southwest part of England, These gathered at
Plymouth early in March. The company had been carefully
made up with all the elements needed for an independent
colony. Two members of the government were with them,
Messrs. Ludlow and Rossiter. They had also a military man
of some experience, Capt. John Mason, besides two clergymen
under whose ministry many of them had sat in the land which
they were about to leave. While they tarried at Plymouth,
making ready for departure, it was thought best to gather
the Church and set over it these ministers as pastor and
teacher. The reason for this step is not positively known, but
it has been suggested, and with some probability at least, that
it may have been through fear of the influence of the Separ-
atists in America.
The first company, after landing at Salem, had fraternized
with the Plymouth men when they came to meet them and
understand their views; and when a Church was to be organ-
ized at Salem, Gov. Endicott received messengers from the
Church at Plymouth, who gave them the right hand of fellow-
ship. This Church, though it still professed "not to separate
from the Church of England, but only from its corruptions,"
may have seemed to their brethren at home a little too cordial
CELEBRATIONS 373
towards the schismatics; and since their next ship, the Mary
and John, was hkely to arrive somewhat in advance of the
Arbella, in which Gov. Winthrop was to sail, it is not im-
probable that Rev. John White and others of the company
advised the organization of the Church in England to forestall
the evil influences of Plymouth. The only detailed account
which we have of the organization of the Church is that given
by Roger Clap, then a young man about twenty-one years of
age. He had joined the company from admiration of Mr.
Warham as a preacher, having heard him in Exeter, England.
And in an account of his life, written when an old man for the
benefit of his children, he says, after describing the company
gathered at Plymouth, "These godly people resolved to live
together, and therefore as they had made choice of those two
Reverend Servants of God, Mr. John Warham and Mr. John
Maverick, to be their ministers, so they kept a day of solemn
fasting in the New Hospital, . . . spending it in preaching and
praying, where the worthy man of God, Mr. John White of
Dorchester, in Dorset, was present and preached unto us the
fore part of the day, and in the latter part of the day, as the
people did solemnly make choice of and call those godly min-
isters to be their officers, so also the Rev. Mr. Warham and
Mr. Maverick did accept thereof and expressed the same."
Beyond this, Mr. Clap tells us nothing, and perhaps we should
expect nothing further from one who was present as a youth,
and not a member of the Church. But Prince, the learned
pastor of the Old South Church, Boston, in his Annals of New
England, written only a hundred years after, says, on the
authority of a manuscript letter then in his possession, that
Messrs. Warham and Maverick were then re-ordained as their
ministers; and in a note then added, says: "These had also
been ordained ministers by Bishops in the Church of England,
and they are now only separated to the especial care of this
people." Just so they ordained Mr. John Wilson, pastor of the
Church in Charlestown. A few months later making this
minute : "We used imposition of hands, but with the protesta-
tion by all that it was only as a sign of election and confirma-
tion, and not of any intent that Mr. Wilson should renounce
his ministry which he received in England." Thus far in
374 OLD WINDSOR
every respect the proceedings at the formation of this Church
in Plymouth, England, were followed by the churches formed
under the same supervision, and but a few months later, both
in Charlestown and also in Watertown, where Mr. Phillips was
set over a part of the company that arrived with Gov. Win-
throp only a few weeks after the Mary and John. But as no
mention is made of any covenant which was subscribed to by
this Church at the first, it has been doubted by some if they
had any; Mr. Clap's silence proves nothing. He was then but
a young man and not himself a member. But these people had
come together comparative strangers from different towns
and counties, and were entering into Church relations with
intent to live together in Christian fellowship ; and though they
may not have attached the same significance to a covenant
then as later, the probability is that they had one, if not at
the very first, yet shortly after, when other churches of their
company and under the same government were so organized.
It would be only a simple form of agreement, however, simi-
lar to that signed at Charlestown on the 30th of July by Gov.
Winthrop and Rev. John Wilson and two others, and by more
than fifty in all before August, when the Church was fully
organized. That covenant read thus: "In the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and in obedience to his holy, wise, and
divine ordinances, we, whose names are here underwritten
being by his most wise and good providence brought together
into this part of America, in the Bay of Massachusetts, and
desirous to unite into one Congregation or Church under the
Lord Jesus Christ our Head, in such sort as becometh all
those whom he hath redeemed and sanctified to himself, do
hereby solemnly and religiously, as in his most holy presence,
promise and bind ourselves to walk in all our ways according
to the rule of the Gospel, and in all sincere conformity to his
holy ordinances, and in mutual love and respect to each other,
so near as God shall give us grace." A somewhat similar
covenant was signed at Watertown by about forty men besides
women. In these two places together there must have been
more than a thousand people at this time, and most of them
baptized persons no doubt, yet only about a hundred entered
into covenant with the churches at first, and the same thing
CELEBRATIONS 375
was probably true of the Dorchester company when they
organized a few months earher. Roger Clap himself was not
a member at first, though no doubt a baptized person as all
the children of the church were in those days. And he de-
scribes his father as "a man fearing God and in good estate
among God's faithful servants." If this moral and religiously
inclined young man though baptized was not accounted a mem-
ber of the church, there must have been something to distin-
guish its members from others. It could not be mere con-
firmation by a Bishop. The Puritans had little to do with
Bishops in that country and none in this. Milton, writing of
them in 1641, says, ''What numbers of faithful and free-born
Englishmen and good Christians have been constrained to
forsake their dearest home, their friends and kindred, whom
nothing but the wide ocean and the savage deserts of America
could hide and shelter from the fury of the Bishops." But
once on this side the ocean they no longer recognized the
authority of Archbishop Laud or any other Bishop of the
National Church,
The continued persecution of the Puritans in England
caused a rapid emigration to America, until, as Cotton Mather
says, "The Massachusetts Colony was become like an hive
over-stocked with bees." But information was received,
through Indians at first, of the rich open lands along the
Connecticut river, only a hundred miles farther on; and the
earlier settlers in Newtown, Watertown, and Dorchester be-
came restless and sought consent of the Court as early as
1634 to remove. At length, in May and June, 1635, consent
was granted them on the supposition that it was not beyond
the jurisdiction of that Colony. At once the removal com-
menced of individuals from each of these towns, and begin-
nings were made at Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield,
which towns bore the names of those their people came from,
for a year or more.
There are three accounts only which are left us by men
then living and thoroughly conversant with the events which
they record. First, Gov. Winthrop, in his account of the
Council at Dorchester, April 1st, for the formation of a new
church, says: "A large part of the old Church had gone to
376 OLD WINDSOR
Connecticut"; and second, the author of the Life of Richard
Mather, of whom Increase Mather, his son, says in the preface,
"He hath had the reviewing- of my father's manuscripts, from
whence, as well as from personal and intimate acquaintance,
he hath been truly furnished with the knowledge of what is
here reported"; writing, too, when all the older members of
both churches were still living, says that Mr. Mather while in
Boston received invitations from Plymouth, Dorchester, and
Roxbury, "to employ the talent which the Lord had enriched
him with for the work of the ministry among them." Being
uncertain as to his duty he advised with friends, among whom
Messrs. Cotton and Hooker were chief, and on their advice
"set upon that great work," as the writer expresses it, "of
gathering a Church in Dorchester, the Church which was first
planted in that place being removed with Rev. Mr. Warham
to Connecticut." Then, thirdly, we have the records of
Matthew Grant, one of the first members of this Church, who,
about 1667, sets down a list of twenty-four persons whom he
describes as "members of the Church that were so in Dorches-
ter, and came up here with Mr. Warham and are still of us";
after which he gives a list of those who, as he says, "have been
taken into full communion since we came here." Then again,
under date of December 31, 1677, he gives another list of
fifteen names under the following heading: "Only yet living
that came from Dorchester in full communion." This latter
list was made out forty-two years, and the earlier perhaps
about thirty-two, after the removal of the Church. The scribe
says expressly that he does not mention any who have died
or have gone from us to other places. And according to the
lowest estimate it would seem probable that the number of
those who came from Dorchester with Mr. Warham must have
been five times that of the first list, or seven times that of
the last. (That is, not those who came in his immediate com-
pany alone, but who in the course of a few years joined him
here, having been members of his Church previous to coming.)
This would give us, as a minimum, more than one hundred
person. Though Gov. Winthrop doubtless spoke accurately
in April, 1636, when he said the larger part of the Church had
removed, others came later as we know, so that only a remnant
CELEBRATIONS 377
of the original body could have been left behind. Neither
Matthew Grant, who was here as early as September, 1635,
nor anybody else intimates anything- of a reorganization of
the Church in Windsor; but, on the contrary, Mr. Grant almost
fully asserts the opposite fact. The original records, now lost,
were doubtless brought here by Mr. Warham, for Mr. Grant
says in the opening of his minutes, "The Elders of the Church
have a record of Church proceedings in some things as they
had" ; and new church records were begun in Dorchester with
the formation of the new church, and are still preserved entire.
Some few members of the old church as we know were left
behind. Mr. Roger Clap was one. And of the seven members
who formed the foundation or pillars of the new Church, three
are known to have been in Dorchester a year or two before
the removal ; whether members of the Church there we cannot
tell.
Mr. Huit was settled as teacher in the Church in 1639,
and the quaint epitaph on his tombstone in our old burying
ground tells about all that need be said of him. Though but
five years with the Church they declare his virtues thus:
"Who when hee lived wee drew our vitall breath
Who when hee dyed his dying was our death
Who was ye stay of state, ye churches staff
Alas the times forbids an epitaph."
THE GRAVE OF THE REV. EPHRAIM HUIT
He was the last settled in this Church distinctively as
teacher and not also pastor.
Of Mr. Nathaniel Chauncey, who was Mr. Warham's suc-
cessor, and for a few years his colleague, special m.ention must
be made, however, on account of the division in the Church
which his settlement occasioned. He was fourth son of Rev.
378 OLD WINDSOR
Charles Chauncey, second President of Harvard College. He
was highly recommended, by such men as Rev. John Wilson
of Boston and Richard Mather of Dorchester, for his "learn-
ing, studious diligence, hopeful piety, and grace, and peace-
able demeanor." Nevertheless, for reasons not wholly known
to us, there was great opposition to his settlement. The Gen-
eral Court had to interfere, and, on the 14th of October, 1667,
in obedience to its order, the people of Windsor voted on the
question. And Mr. Henry Wolcott returned eighty-six votes
for Mr. Chauncey and fifty-two against him. This seems to
have secured his settlement, but the dissatisfied minority soon
after obtained permission of the Court to procure for them-
selves an able orthodox minister and have worship by them-
selves, which they did later, under the ministry of Mr. Wood-
bridge, Though the decree of Court says, "This Court leaves
the Church at liberty for settling Mr. Chauncey and calling
him to office," some have doubted if it was ever done, yet the
probability is that he was regularly set over the Church as
pastor. The explanation of this division is not fully known.
Since the Synod of 1662, which endorsed and authorized the
half-way Covenant system, proposed at first in 1657, there
seems to have been a great division in the churches.* One
party here was called the Presbyterian party. Dr. Parker of
Hartford, in his discourse at the two-hundredth anniversary
of the South Church, says, "within a month from the time
when the second Church in Hartford was formed, the party in
the Church at Windsor that dissented from the strict Congre-
gationalism of old Mr. Warham withdrew, and Mr. Woodbridge
was ordained as minister of the Presbyterian party of Wind-
sor." It is known that the Presbyterians of England had
exerted themselves to induce the Council at Boston, in 1648,
to frame the platform of the New England churches in accord-
ance with their ideas, — and doubtless many within the colony
were then favorable to the polity of that Church which under
Cromwell had been made for a time the established Church
of England. But the disagreement was not all between these
*This was a time of disturbance in many of the churches throughout
the colonies. Not only in Hartford, but in Boston, also, there was a
secession of a portion of the old church, and a new one formed, which
is now known as the Old South.
CELEBRATIONS 379
two factions of the church. There could not have been perfect
peace in the main body if it be true, as reported, that "When
a sermon was preached in the pulpit in the forenoon concern-
ing doctrines to which Mr. C. was opposed, he would in the
afternoon preach to the same audience, from the same text,
a regular logical confutation of these doctrines." It was evi-
dently a time of great trouble and disturbance in the Church,
and it is not very strange that Mr. Chauncey remained only
a little more than twelve years. He is the only pastor, how-
ever, in the first two centuries of the Church who did not
remain and die among the people of his charge. Another fact
is worthy of mention here. For two years and twelve weeks,
before February, 1669, while matters were unsettled, and the
minority of the Church, though v/orshipping apart, had not
yet obtained leave to form a separate Church, and the General
Court had the matter in hand with intent to heal the division,
Matthew Grant records that the Church held no communion
service. An interesting question concerning the mode of
administering the communion is suggested by the account of
Dea. More with the Church about this time. The charge for
wine used at a single sacrament, August 14, 1670, is 18^, —
and the average cost for the next six is about 14^., and the
price per gallon is set down in one instance as 4^, which would
allow about four gallons to one communion. But the mem-
bership at that time according to the records could not have
been more than sixty or seventy, — and this would have allowed
a small glass of wine to each person. In the same way it can
be shown that the bread eaten would have been sufficient to
give to each person more than two ounces apiece. From this
it would seem that they must have made more of a supper
of this sacrament than we now do.
The division in the Church at this time was great and
grievous and was by no means healed when, in 1679, Mr.
Chauncey left the church to accept an invitation to Hatfield,
Mass. The Court and Councils tried in vain to restore har-
mony, until at last, worn out with wranghng, the town voted
unanimously, in 1681, to call Mr. Saml. Mather, who was
grandson to Richard Mather of Dorchester, and cousin to
Cotton Mather. And at length, in 1684, he was settled and
peace restored.
OLD WINDSOR
It was during his ministry that the first permanent divi-
sion of the society was effected. At his settlement the parish
included what is now Windsor, with Bloomfield, Windsor
Locks, Suffield, East and South Windsor, and a portion of
Ellington, The new meeting-house which was at once built,
after the two parties united, stood out here on the green. And
that was the one place of worship in all this region; The
Temple at Jerusalem whither the tribes went up. But the
settlement on the east side of the river, then called Windsor
Farms, had so increased that by 1694 they obtained leave of
the Court to sustain a minister among them, and Timothy
Edwards, the father of Jonathan, came with his wife November
14, 1694. Later a meeting-house was built, but as yet there
was no Church and no territorial division of the town into
separate parishes. Each man paid his rate where he chose.
But in May, 1696, the Court record reads, "Upon motion of
divers of the inhabitants of Windsor living on the east side
of the river, this Court granted to said inhabitants free liberty
in an orderly way, with the consent of neighbor Churches to
involve themselves into Church estate, and to proceed to the
ordination of their minister, having first obtained the free
consent of the Church of Windsor." But this would involve
the division of the parish; and that was a new thing. This
was one of the earliest instances in the Colony when one town
was thus divided territorially into two parishes. And it is
probable that "the free consent of the Church in Windsor"
was not so easily obtained, for although a vote was passed
in that society May 3, 1697, that Mr. Edwards should be called
to office, as soon as conveniently may be, Mr. Stoughton makes
charge in his account book. May 28, 1698, for Provisions laid
in the house of Mr. Edwards for his ordination. The Hst in-
cludes rum and wine, with butter, cheese, eggs, and wheat-
meal.* And so it seems that the real division of Church and
Parish did not take place until the year 1698, the same year
that the Suffield Church was formed. Before this date many
of the persons received to membership here by Mr. Mather
are recorded as "of Suffield."
■■Some of these facts were kindly furnished by Mr. John A. Stoughton,
who has of late come into possession of a lot of Edwards' manuscript.
CELEBRATIONS 381
During the ministry of Mr. Marsh the Church and Parish
suffered further diminuation by the separation of Poquonock
and establishment of an independent Church and Society in
1724, and a similar secession of Bloomfield in 1736. Each of
those cleavag-es, as that of Windsor Locks in 1844, was natural
and necessary, from the growth of population around new
centers, but each was resisted as long as possible by the mother
Church, as it is natural for any mother to delay as long as
possible the separation of her family, and the departure of
her daughters to found new homes elsewhere. The chief event
which made memorable the next ministry, that of Rev. Wm.
Russell, was the struggle between the two extremes of the
parish with regard to the location of the new meeting-house.
As a result of the decision to build on the South side of the
rivulet, the opposing party, by consent of the Court, separated
themselves from the Church and built them a house about
two miles north of the other, and for thirty-three years wor-
shipped by themselves, with Rev. Theo. Hinsdale for their
Pastor. This division, as also the earlier one in 1667, would
doubtless have been permanent, as was that between the 1st
and 2d Churches in Hartford, if the population of Windsor
had increased as in Hartford, so as to warrant its continuance.
In the midst of this period of division the war of the Revolu-
tion was fought. Until then we had owned as our Sovereigns
the successive Kings of England, and lived under protection
of the British flag. But this division in the territory of Eng-
land by which we became an independent government, has
proved a more permanent one than the contemporaneous divi-
sion in our old Church. For, shortly after the establishment
of peace, a reunion was brought about and the body has ever
since remained without open schism. The Pastorates of the
two Rowlands, father and son, both of whom were men worthy
of extended mention and praise had we time to devote to it,
extended seven years beyond the close of the second century
of our history. Up to this time the Church had had but seven
Pastors, besides the two Teachers who labored with Mr. War-
ham. The average length of a pastorate up to this point had
been about thirty-one years.
In the last fifty years, less seven, there have been five
pastors, making twelve in all for the 250 years, though by
382
OLD WINDSOR
the overlapping of some pastorates it makes more than 250
years of service. One of these was for a single year, yet the
average length of pastorate from the first is about twenty-one
years.
The Rowland Family
(Added in 1935 by Daniel Howard)
The Rev, David Sherman Rowland whose previous pas-
torate was in Providence, R. L, was the pastor of the First
Church of Windsor during the trying days of the Revolution-
ary War and reference to his settleement in the pastorate may
be found in connection with our story of the great struggle. A
graduate of Yale in the class of 1743 and the recipient of a
master's degree from Dartmouth he maintained the tradition
of the church for scholarly and cultured leadership.
In 1790 his son, the Rev. Henry Augustus Rowland, a grad-
uate of Dartmouth, became his colleague, and upon his death,
January 13, 1794, the son was continued as pastor and served
until 1835.
His son, Henry Augustus, Jr., a graduate of Yale, became
more widely known than either of the Windsor pastors ; but his
THE REV. DAVID SHERMAN ROWLAND
Son of Henry and Tamar Rowland. Yale 1743. Married Mary Spalding.
Pastor of the First Church of Windsor, 1'776-1794
CELEBRATIONS 383
work was done for the most part in other states, including pas-
torates at Fayetteville, North Carolina, New York City, and
Honesdale, Pennsylvania.
It is interesting to note in connection with the references
to Yale College already made that in 1820 according to a
Tecord of the family there were six Rowland.:! in that college.
A great-grandson of the first of the family to come to the
Windsor Church, Mr. George Rowland, was offered an oppor-
tunity to go to college but the exciting years preceding the
Civil War led his thoughts in other directions and he entered
the military service at the age of fifteen and did guard duty for
a while and later enlisted in the army in a group known as
"squirrel hunters" because most of them came from the rural
sections of Ohio clothed and equipped more as hunters than as
soldiers.
After the war Mr. Rowland was for a time an assistant in
the treasury department at Washington and later was an in-
surance man and a banker and broker in New York city. His
banking experience led to the organization of a stock company
to build a railroad in Mexico and his years spent in carrying out
that enterprise provided thrilling experiences that he loves
to relate to his many friends of the present generation.
The Celebration in 1905
In the year 1905 the First Church celebrated its two hun-
dred seventy-fifth anniversary. The two following addresses
were given on that occasion.
ADDRESS BY REV. GHAlRLEfS A. JAQUITH
Tonight, we of the Windsor Farms, have crossed the
Great River that we may attend the services of this church
as was the custom so many years ago. Gladly do we come,
bringing most cordial greetings from a daughter church.
When a church is so old, so unsurpassingly old, as is this Con-
gregational Church of Windsor, it rightly feels the respon-
sibility of holding up before this much tempted generation the
piety and heroism of an earlier age.
Those who with unwearied tongue magnify the greatness
of the Mayflower and her one hundred passengers, must this
384 OiLO WINDSOR
week hold their peace, while we set forth the claims of the
Mary and John and her one hundred and forty passengers.
Not all the early heroes landed at Plymouth, nor even Salem
and Boston; some landed at Nantasket and were glad to re-
move from Dorchester a few years later to settle in the beau-
tiful and fertile Connecticut valley at Windsor. This company
was carefully selected in England with the thought of being
ready for any and all the requirements of the American wilder-
ness. Two clergymen of acknowledged ability, Warham and
Maverick, were to convert the Indians, if they were docile,
but if not, John Mason, who had fought with distinction in
the Netherlands, was to use such force as was necessary. The
Psalm book and the "big stick" were both on board the Mary
and John. A lawyer, also, business men and farmers of ample
means accompanied the expedition. "They were a very godly
and religious people" as the old record says, "and many of
them, persons of figure and note, being dignified with the title
of Mr., which few in those days were." The whole company
rose to a certain greatness of soul, because following a high
ideal. Their work was crowned with true success, "for what
is worth Success' name, unless it be the thought, the inward
surety, to have carried out a noble purpose, to a noble end?"
It is not my task to speak of the unremembered ; but to
notice a few of the greater names in your history, as we recall
the words of Carlyle: "We cannot look, however imperfectly,
upon a great man, without gaining something by him. He is
the living light — fountain which it is good and pleasant to
be near."
One name stands out conspicuously in the military history
of New England. Captain John Mason was perhaps the most
renowned military leader of his day. The Indians in 1636-7
kept the Connecticut towns in constant alarm, and after the
massacre at Wethersfield, the General Court called out forty-
two men from Hartford, thirty from Windsor and eighteen
from Wethersfield, to proceed against the Pequot Indians.
Captain Mason had, however, but seventy-seven men when he
surprised the seven hundred Pequots in their entrenched fort.
With fire and fire-arms he carried out David Harum's new
version of the Golden Rule: "Do unto others as they would
CELEBRATIONS 385
do to you and do it first." The result was the Pequots were
annihilated and the Connecticut colonies enjoyed comparative
peace from the Indians forever after. Prompt, vigorous, and
brave, John Mason put Connecticut under lasting indebtedness
to him.
From a legal standpoint, too, Windsor's contribution was
a large one, both to state and nation. Among the original
settlers was Roger Ludlow, who had been bred to the law in
England and was a deputy-governor in Massachusetts, before
leaving Dorchester. When the freemen of the three towns
of Windsor, Hartford and Wethersfield met in Hartford, Janu-
ary 14, 1639, a constitution was adopted which John Fiske
says was "the first written constitution known to history that
created a government." This famous constitution according
to Stiles was drawn up by Roger Ludlow, although the most
powerful democratic influence in the settlements was Thomas
Hooker. Ludlow has also been credited with being the author
of the first school law in Connecticut, wherein is prescribed:
"That the selectmen of every town shall have a vigilant eye
over their brethren and neighbors to see first that none of
them shall suff'er so much barbarism in their families as not
to endeavor to teach, by themselves or others, their children
and apprentices as may enable them perfectly to read the
English tongue." It had prescribed that any town of one hun-
dred families should set up schools able to fit for the university.
The greatest name in Windsor's history — her greatest
contribution to the nation — is unquestionably Oliver Ellsworth.
Most highly commendable it is that his home in Windsor should
be so well preserved, that it may speak to coming generations,
not only of the time long past, but of the man who rendered so
great service to our country in its early and formative period.
During the closing years of the Revolution from 1778-83, when
the personnel of the Continental Congress had seriously de-
clined in ability and patriotism, he was one of the most loyal
and useful members and gave the army support where it was
sorely needed. In the Constitutional Convention of 1787 his
part was by no means a small one. Hon. Henry Cabot Lodge,
in an address on Ellsworth at the Yale Law School in 1902,
shows conclusively that assisted by Roger Sherman, also of
386 OLD WINDSOR
Connecticut, he was chiefly responsible for the great com-
promise between the large and small states, whereby the Con-
vention was saved from failure and the present Constitution
proposed. That a Senate composed of an equal number of
members from each state, elected by the Legislatures, was
added to a House of Representatives, chosen by popular vote,
was due chiefly to the wisdom and practical sagacity of Oliver
Ellsworth. To his everlasting honor be it said, he performed
a most important service at one of the most critical moments
in all the history of our country. As a senator under the Con-
stitution from 1789-94, his influence was so great that Aaron
Burr said that "if he should chance to spell the name of the
Deity with two d's, it would take the Senate three weeks to
expunge the superfluous letter." John Adams aflSrmed that
he was "one of the pillars of Washington's administration."
His greatest service as Senator was the drafting of the Act
upon which the judicial system of the United States has rested
ever since. From 1796-1800 he held the highest judicial posi-
tion in the land, Chief Justice of the United States. An im-
portant work in the negotiation of a treaty with France, in
1800, whereby a most threatening discord was brought to a
close, was the last of his services to the nation. After some
further service in the counsels of Connecticut, he died here
in Windsor, November 27, 1807. His identification with this
church is shown by the fact that he was on the building com-
mittee in 1794 when the present structure was erected.
"Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free,
So didst thou travel on life's common way
In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart
The lowliest duties on herself did lay."
One of his sons, Wm. Wolcott Ellsworth, governor 1834-42,
declined election to the Senate and later was Judge of the
Supreme Court.
Such a contribution to our legal and political history
reflects enduring honor upon this town and church.
Time is lacking for any extended characterization of
Henry Wolcott and his illustrious descendants. "One of the
most influential leaders of the Connecticut colony" himself,
"there was hardly a time for the next two centuries when a
CELEBRATIONS 387
Wolcott was not in some post of trust and honor in the service
of the commonwealth." A grandson named Roger Wolcott was
governor, 1751-4; but he Hved in what is now South Windsor.
Another descendant, Oliver Wolcott, who moved to Litchfield,
was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and governor,
1796-7. His son was Secretary of the Treasury and Governor
of Connecticut ten years. Even in our own day, the family
has produced a Senator in Colorado, Edward Oliver Wolcott,
and a governor in Massachusetts, Roger Wolcott. All honor,
then, to Henry Wolcott, the sire of such a race !
We cannot omit to mention the clergy, "those bold, vigor-
ous, intolerant, able men that set their mark so indelibly upon
the early institutions of New England." John Warham, the
first pastor, was worthy of that first generation of ministers.
They were men who were scholarly and idealistic enough to
accumulate libraries equal in value to three or four year's
salary; yet vigorous and practical enough to mold the char-
acter and institutions of their parishioners. Warham was so
humble as to refuse at times to partake of the Lord's Supper
which he administered, but was by no means timid or in-
effectual when he preached the Word. Rev. Samuel Mather,
pastor of the church, 1684-1728, deserves mention for his con-
spicuous ability, as well as for his service in harmonizing the
church and adding largely to its numbers. The great Jonathan
Edwards, whom South Windsor is proud to claim, was des-
cended on his mother's side from the first pastor of this church,
so you also share in his fame and indeed you have some claim
upon all the great men whom the daughter churches have
produced.
Doubtless other names are deserving of mention at my
hand; but surely those of whom I have spoken are the choice
fruits you hold up before us as your contribution to the world.
Even the names of such men quicken our pulses and thrill us
with the thought of achievement and service. Great things
were accomplished by those men of old. They were the men
who dug the channels wherein has flowed the stream of New
England history. It is due*to them that we feel today strongly
as we do the moral currents of life. The preachers expounded
the greatest Book of all and proclaimed, "This is the way, walk
OLD WINDSOR
ye in it"; and so it came about that life amid the hardships
and simplicities of early Connecticut was dignified by a devo-
tion to principle and a loyalty to the future, which amidst the
highest opportunities and luxuries of today cannot be relegated
to a second place. In the succession of noble patriots you have
sent out, is verified Lowell's saying: —
"Freedom is re-created year by year,
In hearts wide open on the God-ward side."
We may smile if we wish at the long sermons and the long
prayers of those days, their scrupulous observance of the
Sabbath and the strictness of parental discipline, but there
were produced men not only great in intellect, but earnest in
purpose, pure in motive, and noble in character; and we have
yet to prove that we can produce the same results with less
of self-denial and religious training.
ADD'REiSiS BY REV. GEORGE L. OLARK
It is my privilege to speak, not for your notable heroes,
your Warhams, Ellsworths and Wolcotts, but for that larger
and no less important company of quiet, modest, gentle, reso-
lute, faithful people, who have done most of the work, en-
countered perils hand to hand and fought the battles through
in your fine history, and unsung, but not unwept, dropped into
humble graves. Mr. Lincoln said that God, must think a good
deal of common people, he made so many of them. I count
it a joy to speak, though unworthily, of these whose obscurity
and silence are more eloquent than words, whose deeds have
been wrought into the substance of our history and our faith,
"who did great things, unconscious they were great."
How seldom we think of the thousands who make up the
rank and file of the army, who stand on guard while officers
sleep, who marched long, weary and footsore, who handled
flintlock and Winchester with an accuracy gained among corn-
fields and forests. Few reached the chair of professor, judge,
or legislature, but these men knew how to milk a cow, swing
an ax or scythe, wield rake or hoe, raise corn, rye, oats and
beans, and how to face death with unflinching courage. They
were the bone and sinew of the land and when Boston was
beleagured, the valley of the Connecticut sent its treasures
CELEBRATIONS 389
of grain to suffering fellow patriots with a ringing word of
courage, and when the call came for soldiers the farmers did
not hesitate.
Only a few men stand out in clear and brilliant outline
on history's page; it was the many lowly and persistent souls
that cut down trees, made roads, held the ploughs, cast votes,
built the home, church and schoolhouse and in simple faith
and unassuming ways laid the foundations of the Republic.
Honor, ceaseless honor, to the self-denying, resolute faithful
men, who in cold and heat, darkness and storm and pain, fought
the good fight and finished their course. Without them the
Shermans, the Hookers and the Putnams were a swift and
fleeting dream. Honor, ceaseless honor, to the plain, straight-
forward common people, the unremembered men.
And what shall I say of the women? We read little of
them in the histories, but since that day in the autumn of
1635, when agile Rachael Stiles pushed ahead of clumsy men,
discussing precedence, and was the first of the bold settlers
to reach the shore, planting her foot upon the soil of Windsor,
women have had a large part in th struggle with the wolves,
bears, Indians, hardships and disappointments of New Eng-
land. When the brave men of Windsor shouldered their
muskets or their rifles and went against the Dutch, Narra-
gansetts, British and Rebels, who were more dauntless than
the mothers, wives and sisters, who with sad hearts, yet brave
faces, spun the yarn, wove the cloth and made their butternut
coat; filled the knapsack and with a kiss and a trembling, a
thrilling word sent those men of nerve on their way of duty
and death. It was harder, it required more patience and endur-
ing fortitude to hold fast to faith and hope in the lonely home,
through long, tiresome days and longer restless nights, than
to go out on an expedition which demanded grit and heroism,
but it was the lot of women to stay at home and send prayers
to the God of Battles and messages of strength and courage
to the brave defenders.
They did stay, they made bread, they washed dishes,
made soap, tried out lard, salted beef, converted crab apples
and golden pumpkins into glorious pies for the young patriots
around the table. How steadily worked the old creaking loom ;
390 OLD WINDSOR
how swiftly flew the spinning wheel ! They milked the cows,
fed the pigs, coaxed the pullets to lay, with one eye for wolf
or Indian, When voices grew harsh who could make peace
like a woman ? Who quietly dealt with the delirium of stormy
adolescence ? Who drilled the catechism into the children and
made Connecticut the birthplace of clockmakers and theo-
logians ? What a roll, the two Edwardses, Hopkins, Bellamy,
Beecher, Bushnell and Seth Thomas. Those clear-sighted
women found time to give a touch of beauty to the humble
home; they trained the sweet honeysuckle about the door,
they planted the brilliant hollyhock. Said an orator, "Who
were last at the Cross and first at the tomb? Ladies," So in
our history, first and last in loving service. Whose pleasant
voices mingled with the rumble and roar of their brothers and
lifted old Antioch to the rafters and with glancing eyes from
their high post beckoned diffident youths toward Heaven?
When the saints sat in zero meeting houses and swallowed
frozen chunks of theology or patiently watched "ninthly" and
"tenthly" pour forth from the lips of the parson in frosty out-
line, who helped the tithingman quiet restive children and
awakened the husband who was freezing to death ; whose flying
fingers had knit the many socks and mittens and made the
warm coats? Who fed the parson in his pastoral round and
cheered his drooping spirits with a good square meal?
Then the sewing circle. The tongue of an angel were
needed to sing its praise. Woman was the queen of that
kingdom of work and recreation. It was newspaper, theater,
lyceum, debating club, business enterprise, market place, all
in one. It relieved the monotony of a hard grind, scattered
the blues, promoted sociability and made matches. How could
the church exist without it? When a carpet is needed for the
meeting-house the modern Paul looks to Dorcas, the president
of the Ladies' Aid. When hymn-books are required for the
upper room or the parish expenses overlap the income the be-
loved Persis knows how to pry open the masculine pocketbook
with a bean pod or an oyster shell. Glorious is chicken pie.
Magnificent are baked beans. Magical is the pumpkin pie.
Pleasant as heavenly manna are jelly and doughnuts. We
have heard of a church built of onions. Many a chapel has
CELEBRATIONS 391
been decorated with scalloped oysters and pink tea. People
must have recreation and before the gentle game of football
arose there were huskings. But what were they without pretty
girls? And what were a red ear without a pair of ruby lips
to match it?
Good cheer, courage, faith and love spring up like flowers
in the footsteps of the unremembered women. Rare is the life
sublime, uninspired by a good woman. We celebrate the prayer
meeting at the famous haystack, but who taught those college
boys to pray ? The invalid wife of Wendell Phillips would say
to the silver tongued orator as he shrank from a severe en-
counter, "Wendell, don't shally." So the women in the homes
of obscurity equipped their sons for occasions which demanded
manhood, strength and courage. More precious than rubies
in the story of this ancient and noble Church is the memory
of the unremembered.
The Tercentenary of the First Church
In 1930 when the First Church celebrated the fact that
it was three hundred years old the Rev. Roscoe Nelson was
pastor and the following historical excerpts are taken from
his address which formed part of the tercentenary program.
An anniversary like this, instead of accentuating our
separation from the motherland should on the contrary deepen
our sense of fellowship and unity with the multitudes over
there whose cause was, is, and ever will be one with ours.
Coming to our own pioneers it is most fitting, I think,
to mention first of all the Governor of the Bay Colony, under
whose jurisdiction they lived for five years in Massachusetts
and continued in the same for the first year of their settle-
ment here, until they formed a government of their own. In
my judgment nothing is too good to say of John Winthrop the
Governor. In these words he is described by Woodrow Wilson
in his history of the American Commonwealth: "A man of
gentle breeding, of education, of private hieans, and of the
high principles of the best Puritan tradition, a man trained
in the law and, what was much better, schooled in a firm but
moderate temper, sweet yet commanding."
392 OLD WINDSOR
The pioneering did not cease when the landing was made.
It simply took other directions. The natives, for one thing,
offered a. field for the pioneer. It has been said, with more
wit than truth, that the Puritans fell first upon their knees
and then upon the aborigines. Aside from the direful chapter
of the Pequot War the Puritans of the first immigration fell
upon the natives with the Bible as the weapon of their attack.
To carry the Gospel to the Indians was a purpose much in the
minds of Winthrop and his associates and that purpose was
nobly carried out by the preaching of John Elliott and by his
translation of the scriptures into the Indian language. The
later record of the contacts of the whites with the natives
affords small ground for boasting, but the intent of the first
comers is wholly in accord with the noblest type of Christian
character.
And take the matter of civil order, of Government. Was
not that a field for the pioneer and for building on new founda-
tions? You are aware of the distinguishing feature of the
government set up in the Bay Colony and of the fun that has
been made of it. It has been called a theocracy, by which
we mean the rule of God. And how was the rule of God car-
ried on? The ministers, of course, had much to do with it.
They interpreted the scriptures as they related to the matters
in hand, the Old Testament rather more than the New, and
such interpretation found its way into the rules and orders
for the regulation of common life. John Cotton, the engaging
minister of the Boston church, was likely to be asked to preach
at any crisis of affairs, and, as someone said, "Whatever he
delivered in the pulpit was soon put into an order of the Court
or set up as a practice in the Church." This was one way the
theocracy operated.
Another way was by admitting only church members to
the privilege of freemen. At first thought one might say this
was the same principle as that in practice in England. There
all the people were legally and technically members of the
State Church. So over there no one could be a full citizen,
of course, who was not a church member. But here only men
who could give a very definite account of their religious expe-
rience could be members of the church. Thus the membership
CELEBRATIONS 393
was limited to the special type of religious people who were
proved to be Godly by special rigid tests and only such could
be admitted to the company of freemen and permitted to vote.
Very much fun has been made of this early form of American
democracy.
This idea and practice have long since found a place in
the museum. It was not a scheme of government destined to
last. But judged from the point of view of those who promoted
it, it is not to be despised. In the intent of Winthrop and
Cotton and such men it was not without its high and noble
aspects. These men in their purpose were going forward with
God, and how better could they do so in civil affairs as well
as in the church than by the agency of Godly men, men who
stood the test of godliness by standards which to us are rigid
and artificial but to them exalted and biblical. The famous
saying of Winthrop, "The best part is always the least, and
of that best part the wiser part is always the lesser" is hard
to disprove. Quite naturally Winthrop thought of this wiser
and lesser part as consisting of those who met the standards
of life and conduct set up by the church. John Cotton with
his melting eloquence was in complete agreement with Win-
throp. Democracy in his opinion "God never did ordain as a
fit government either for church or commonwealth. If the
people be governors, who shall be governed."
The ideas of both Winthrop and Cotton seem to us anti-
quated and queer. But we must remember that we are look-
ing at them in the light of three centuries of what we think
of as progress. While their ideas have suffered change we
do well to hold the men themselves in lasting honor for their
earnest and conscientious puipose to lay the foundation of life
in both church and state not upon the shifting sands of human
feeling but upon the truth of God.
To us the flaw in their system is quite visible. It may be
very true that the "best part is always the least." But let the
least part begin to think of itself as the best and as having
a monopoly of wisdom and virtue, then look out for mischief
or for new pioneers. The trouble with King Charles was that
he looked in the glass and saw himself as endowed with God's
394 OLD WINDSOR
whole wisdom, and to him no part of God's wisdom for ruhng
belonged to Parliament or people. The early rulers in the Bay
were unwittingly in danger of the same pit, only here the
fitness and duty to rule were supposed to belong to the limited
group of Church members rather than to a single person as
in case of the King.
The ministers of the First Church have been:
1630 John Warham 1670
1630 John Maverick 1636
1639 Ephriam Huit 1644
1667 Nathaniel Chauncey 1680
1668 Benjamin Woodbridge 1681
1684 Samuel Mather 1728
1709 Jonathan Marsh 1747
1751 William Russel 1775
1776 Theodore Hinsdale 1795
1776 David S. Rowland 1794
1790 Henry A. Rowland 1835
1836 Charles A. Walker 1837
1839 Spofford D. Jewett 1843
1845 Theodore A. Leete 1859
1861 Benjamin Parsons 1865
1867 Gowen C. Wilson 1892
1892 Roscoe Nelson 1932
1932 Theodore E. Frank
CELEBRATIONS
395
OLD GLORY FLIES ON WINDSOR GREE.N
A scene during the World War. This picture was taken on Memorial
Day, 1917, when the new flag presented by Everett and Isaac Hayden
was raised with appropriate ceremonies. The steel pole was purchased
with funds obtained by Walter S. Hastings and the Windsor Boy Scouts.
Judge Ralph M. Grant was the orator of the day.
396 OLD WINDSOR
Bicentennial Celebration of 1932
The year 1932 saw a nationwide celebration of the two
hundredth anniversary of the birth of George Washington.
The exercises conducted in Windsor were carried out under
the direction of a special committee created for the occasion.
Acting in response to a request from the United States George
Washington Bicentennial Commission that he designate a suit-
able chairman for Windsor's share in the observance of the
occasion, Postmaster Erie Rogers asked Daniel Howard to
accept the position and choose a committee to arrange a pro-
gram. Mr. Howard accepted and appointed the following
committee : Erie Rogers, William Hoyt, Mrs. Eleazer Pomeroy,
Mrs. C. H. Barrett, W. Fred Hornsby, John H. Garvan, Calvin
E. Wilcox, Milton A, Leonard, Irving Farrington, Mrs. George
C. Dugdale, Mrs. Charles H. Willcox, Miss C. Louise Dicker-
man, Mrs. Bertha H. Rogers, John A. Benson, Harold J. Quinn,
Christian H. Meier, Edward J. Kernan, Ralph A. Peters, Emil
L. Pfunder.
The celebration began with the writing of prize essays
in the public schools.
On January 29 a concert by the Windsor Band was given
in the High School and four reels of motion pictures depicting
the life of Washington were shown to an appreciative audience.
On May 14 Arbor Day and the Washington Bicentennial
were celebrated in a joint program. An address by the chair-
man was followed by a program of music, readings, and cos-
tume dancing on a platform erected on the athletic field near
the High School.
This was followed by the dedication of the Washington
Memorial Park under the direction of Walter H. Tirrell assisted
by the Gray-Dickinson Post of the American Legion, the Boy
Scouts, the Girl Scouts and the pupils of the public schools.
This park, which comprises several acres of land donated
to the town by Mr. Eleazer Pomeroy, and a lake and surround-
ing land leased to the town by the Metropolitan District for
a nominal sum, has become a center of delightful recreation
for old and young.
CELEBRATIONS
397
On June 8 Governor Wilbur L. Cross, who, with other high
officials of the state, was participating in a pilgrimage over
the historic route once followed by Washington, stopped in
Windsor and greeted and addressed fifteen hundred pupils of
the public schools, who had assembled to hear him on the Broad
Street Green.
Windsor's Tercentenary Celebration
In September, 1933, the celebration to which the town
had looked forward ever since the organization of the Windsor
Historical Society, which made this one of its primary objects,
took place. An executive committee in charge of the celebra-
tion was appointed by the Selectmen and the Board of Finance
of the town of Windsor, acting under authority conferred by
a town meeting. An appropriation of about $4500 was placed
at the disposal of this committee which organized and invited
Raymond W. Smith to act as their secretary. The following
six men then comprised the committee:
DANIEL HOWARD, Chairman
RAYMOND W. SMITH, Secretary
308
OLD WINDSOR
JOHN E. LUDDY
WILLIAM F. HORNSBY
CLAYTON P. CHAMBERLIN
WALTER S. HASTINGS
CELEBRATIONS S.99
The following Selectmen gave their encouragement and
support to the work of the committee :
STANTON F. BROWN, Chairman
ELEAZER POMEROY CHARLES B. SEARLE
Selectmen of Windsor during the Tercentenary Year
400 OLD WINDSOR
The following excerpts from the official catalog and the
report of the celebration tell the main incidents of what took
place.
WHAT DO WE CELEBRATE?
We celebrate on this occasion the three hundredth anni-
versary of the settlement of Ancient Windsor, the first English
settlement in the state of Connecticut. The first settlers came
from Plymouth, Mass. They had been invited by the Matia-
nuck Indians who then inhabited that part of the Connecticut
valley which extends north from the present Hartford line
to and beyond the present Windsor Center. These settlers
came prepared to make a permanent settlem.ent and hoping
to profit by trade with friendly Indians. The framework of
their first house, which they brought by sailing vessel from
Plymouth, reached its destination at Matianuck, now Windsor,
on September 26, 1633. That is our birthday.
But we have other reasons for holding a celebration be-
sides the fact that we are three hundred years old. In 1635-
1636 other and larger bands of settlers arrived from the
Massachusetts Bay Colony. They found that the Plymouth
people had purchased three vast tracts of land lying on both
sides of the Connecticut River and had made preparations to
expand their little settlement. Within a few years these
Massachusetts Bay settlers had purchased these vast tracts
from the Plymouth settlers and repurchased them from the
Indians to secure a continuance of their friendship. We cele-
brate the accomplishments of these men and women, lovers
and friends of freedom and democracy, which they did more
to establish and foster in this new world than any other equal
number of settlers.
From the beginning Windsor has been prominent in this
great movement. She furnished the first president of the first
General Court organized to govern the general affairs of the
three infant settlements that made the Colony of Connecticut.
These settlements were Windsor, Wethersfield, and Hartford,
and the presiding officer and virtual governor was Roger Lud-
low. The first mihtary commander called upon to lead the
little army of the infant colony against savage foes who sought
to destroy it was Captain John Mason of Windsor. The first
CELEBRATIONS 401
written constitution ever drawn up by a free people for their
own g-overnment was drafted by Roger Ludlow of Windsor
and it has become the model for the republics of the world.
Windsor produced Oliver Ellsworth, one of the five authors of
the Constitution of the United States, the author of the bill
creating the judiciary system of the United States, United
States Senator from Connecticut, Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court of the United States, and Minister to France, The an-
cient town produced John M. Niles, founder of the Hartford
Times, leader of the reform party in the Connecticut Revolu-
tion of 1818, United States Senator, and Postmaster General
of the United States. Windsor is proud of Edward Rowland
Sill, the poet; Horace H. Hayden, the father of dentistry;
John Fitch, inventor of the steamboat; Christropher M.
Spencer, inventor of repeating- rifles ; and Arthur H. Eddy, re-
nowned for his inventive contributions in the fields of electric
motors and generators.
In war and peace, in arts and science, in agriculture and
industries, Windsor has been a pioneer. Beginning her illus-
trious history first, she is the first town among the towns of
Connecticut to celebrate her tercentenary anniversary and she
welcomes to all the festivities, functions, and services of the
four days, September 23 to September 26 inclusive, all her
sons and daughters, native or adopted, all their friends and
relatives from near and far, and all who love the principles of
self government, freedom, justice, education, and morality,
that have made her history a record of honor and renown.
Tercentenary Ball
Saturday, September 23, 1933, 8 o'clock P. M., in the John
Fitch High School, planned and sponsored by the following
committee from the Three Hundred Club of Windsor.
W. Fred Hornsby, Chairman; Associates, Walter S. Hast-
ings, Raymond W. Smith, Russell H. Pellington, Reuben D.
Warner, Earle E. Edwards, Robert H. Morse, Paul J. Anderson,
John A. Benson, B. Gary Merrill, Arthur F. Brooks, Frederick
E. Anderson, Robert W. Clark, Donald R. Griswold, Charles F.
Taylor.
402 OLD WINDSOR
Program carried out by the Drama Study Club under the
direction of the following- committees : Mrs. Richard A. Cairns,
Chairman; Associates, Mrs. Kenneth E. Dike, Mrs. Harry P.
Cox, Jr., Kenneth Barber, Harry Wessels, A. W. Olds, and
William W. Prout ; Scenery, Kenneth E. Dike, designer of the
setting; Construction, Richard A. Cairns; Lighting, Burton E.
Moore, Jr. ; Costumes, Miss Helena H. Dorph and Mrs. Merton
F. Dickinson; Make-up, Mrs. Doris Campbell Holsworth; Di-
rector of Dances, Mrs. Burton E. Moore, Jr. ; Dramatization
by Mrs. Richard A. Cairns.
Sunday Service, September 24, 8 o'clock P. M.
ORDER OF SERVICE
PRELUDE : Adagio from Sonata H Beethoven
The Winfield Trio
VESPER HYMN The Choir
HYMN: (the congregation standing)
O God, beneath Thy guiding hand
Our exiled fathers crossed the sea;
And when they trod the wintry strand
With pray'r and praise they worshipped Thee.
Thou heard'st, well pleased, the song, the pray'r;
Thy blessing came, and still its pow'r
Shall onward through all ages bear
The mem'ry of that holy hour.
And here Thy name, O God of love.
Their children's children shall adore,
Till these eternal hills remove,
And spring adorns the earth no more.
Leonard Bacon.
PRAYER: with choral Amen REV. JOHN F. QuiNN
SCRIPTURE READING Rev. Victor L. Greenwood
RESPONSIVE READING
ANTHEM : Festival Te Deum in E Flat Dudley Buck
ADDRESS Rev. Roscoe Nelson
Our Common Inheritance from the Faith of the Fathers.
CELEBRATIONS 403
TERCENTENARY HYMN : (congregation standing)
Spreading o'er hills and plains
Following the river's shore,
Home of our fathers, old Windsor lies.
Three hundred years have passed;
We hold their mem'ry fast.
Their work was good, their counsels wise.
Freedom to worship God;
Freedom in government;
On these foundations which they laid down
Their sons have builded well.
Their grandsons love to tell
The story of the Ancient Town.
Courage and faith were theirs.
Courage and faith be ours
In years to come, as in years gone by.
Justice and liberty
Peace and serenity
We ask of Thee, O Lord Most High.
C. Louise Dickerman.
BENEDICTION AND RESPONSE Rev. Howard F. Dunn
Holy God, we praise Thy name!
Lord of all, we bow before Thee;
All on earth Thy sceptre claim,
All in heav'n above adore Thee;
Infinite Thy vast domain.
Everlasting is Thy name.
Hark! the loud celestial hymn
Angel choirs above are singing!
Cherubim and Seraphim
In unceasing chorus praising;
Fill the heavens with sweet accord:
Holy! Holy! Holy Lord. Amen.
RECESSIONAL Wollenhaupt
Presiding, Daniel Howard
President of the Windsor Historical Society
The Choir
The United Choirs of the Churches of Windsor
Choir Director, C. Louise Dickerman
The Winfield Trio
Stanley Peteroski, Violin Edward Mann, Violoncello
Thomas McManus, Piano
404 OLD WINDSOR
Monday, September 25
All the public schools of the town welcome visitors. Spe-
cial programs appropriate to the Tercentenary Celebration
have been arranged for two o'clock.
Roger Wolcott School — A play portraying the life of Roger
Wolcott. Music by the school orchestra. Exhibit of school
work.
Deerfield School — Episode from Windsor's Early History,
Singing. Exhibit of school work.
Stony School — Historic Reminders.
The John Fitch High School— A Pageant, "Three Cen-
turies of Progress" written by Martha Alice Downs of the
English Department.
H. Sidney Hayden — Play, "The Transplanting," showing
the establishment of Windsor. Hymns from the early days.
Roger Ludlow School — Tableaux in upper grades. Project
in lower grades, based on Windsor history.
Bell School^ — Collection of antiques and exhibition of
school work.
Hayden Station School — Project work featuring early
Windsor.
Thrall School — Project work featuring early Windsor.
Elm Grove School — Exhibition of school work.
John M. Niles School — Episode from Windsor history.
Music in the upper grades. Exhibition of school work.
Rainbow School — Historical Music and Recitations.
Griffin School — Historical Music and Recitations.
Hazelwood School — Historical Music and Recitations.
Tuesday, September 26
A parade took place in which 50 floats were exhibited and
many civic and military organizations participated. The
parade was reviewed, from a stand erected on Broad Street
Green, by Governor Wilbur L. Cross and his staff and about
three hundred invited guests.
A program of speaking and music followed at the grounds
of the John Fitch High School.
CELEBRATIONS 405
We reproduce the speeches of the occasion, giving- first
the address deUvered at the Sunday Union Service by the
Rev. Roscoe Nelson, then the speeches delivered at the athletic
field.
The Union Service
The service was well attended. Eight clergymen sat
together on the platform and with their united choirs carried
out in a most impressive manner the program as planned.
The Rev. Roscoe Nelson was the Speaker of the evening. His
address follows:
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: —
"Adventures in Ideas" is the title of a recent book by
one of the noted thinkers of the day. The keynote of this
book is struck by this sentence: "Without adventure civiliza-
tion is in full decay."
If adventure is the measure of the health and soundness
of a civilization, then the period of our early settlers was in
no peril of decay. Were I to venture a judgment of my own,
I would say there were symptoms of decay in the European
civilization of the time, but its vigor was renewed by the ad-
venturous spirits who came upon the scene, some of whom
strove for the new world at home, and others crossed the sea
to make a new world for themselves and us in the vast area
of the American Continent. Adventurers, indeed, were those
who came hither both in ideas and in deeds. Thought was
matched by action in all their daring enterprise. It is the
fashion in some quarters to make sport at the expense of the
Puritan character, but I know of no one who would deny him
the merit that attaches to adventure.
The story of his life here from this point of view, both at
the beginning and during the hundred years following, has
never been fully told — and probably never will be. I have been
tempted in my address tonight to rehearse some episodes of
adventure in action with which our early history abounds.
But on further consideration it seemed to be more fitting for
this occasion to center our thoughts more especially upon what
has been called "adventures in ideas," those principles and
406 OLD WINDSOR
beliefs which were central in their minds, and which were con-
ceived to be of basic importance in the life of a people. It is
in this field, is it not, that we are to look for the treasure that
they have bequeathed to us, and for which, in particular, we
pay them our grateful honor.
I have therefore set as the subject of my address: "Our
Common Inheritance from the Faith of the Fathers." Is not
that what you most desire to think about this evening? Of
something like that it seemed to me most fitting to speak at
this community service. I use the phrase "Our Common In-
heritance" because we all share what the people who settled
here and their successors have bequeathed to us, at least in
this aspect of it, to whatever special group we now belong.
The adventure in ideas is something impossible to confine to
any one group or organization. It is the property of the entire
community within our borders, and in fact of large areas
beyond. So may I say at the outset that the Inheritance from
the Fathers that I shall especially speak of is a common legacy
in which we all have our portion. Such is my conviction, and,
craving your indulgence, of that I shall endeavor to speak.
We are meeting on the day that the early fathers called
the Sabbath. I am sure that you agree with the Committee
having the anniversary in charge that no celebration of this
sort could at all be true to the history that we recall without
such observance of it as has taken place in the churches this
morning and some such community meeting on the Lord's Day
as we are now engaged in. Incidentally I might say that such
fragments of the old-time Sabbath as we still have are an item
in our inheritance, a greater legacy than many of us are aware
of at the present time. The "Week End" that has pushed the
Sabbath into a corner is not an inheritance from the pioneer
days. In early Windsor, Sunday was both a Sabbath and a
"Week's Beginning." Its design included both rest from the
toil of the week past and direction and guidance for the week
to come. Strange as it may seem to us these forebears whom
we honor at this anniversary found in the lengthy sermons of
Sunday, something to sustain them amid the perils and toil
of the following days, though I little doubt that many of us
would find what hardships the week might bring easy to endure
CELEBRATIONS 407
in comparison with the strain of the two sermons of as many
hours on the Lord's Day. The bravest of us would hardly dare
to set up an imitation of Sunday in Windsor two or three cen-
turies ago, even if it were possible to do so. Though Sunday
was probably not so dreary as many of the stories that have
come down to us would lead one to believe. Human nature
even under stringent laws and regulations will find some outlet
for its lighter moods. Boys and girls would be something
either more or less than human if they did not find some
corner for a bit of gayety and laughter even in the Puritan
Sunday. In this day when one must take to the woods to find
a quiet Sunday, and when the voice of gayety and laughter
is drowned in the din of traffic and the too frequent collisions
on the highways, may we not well concern ourselves to salvage
at least some human and Christian 7'emnant of a Sunday dedi-
cated to rest, to worship, and to a search for the soul — the
soul so easily lost in the hot pursuit of things?
You see how naturally the fact of our meeting on Sunday
led me to say so much on this aspect of our inheritance, shall
I say, our rejected inheritance from our past. Indeed the
Sabbath and the meeting-house were so much the center of
gravity here for the first two centuries of our history that no
picture can be true to life that does not take account of them.
As late an author as James Russell Lowell wrote that "New
England was all meeting-house when I was growing up."
That meeting-house here, for nearly two centuries, was a
Congregational meeting-house, as it was likely to be in most
other New England towns. In that meeting-house what
dramas were enacted ! Some things enacted there, though not
so intended, strike us as farces. Incidents connected with
building the meeting-house, determining its location, very
solemn at the time, are rather funny in retrospect. The actual
distance from every home to the two disputed locations, one
south and one north of the little river were measured, to settle
one such matter here, and quite logically the stake was driven
at the point which required the less wear on the shoes of the
worshippers. This was a more successful method than what
was employed in Hadley, Massachusetts, where a meeting-
house was projected in 1750; it took thirteen years and some
408 OLD WINDSOR
fifty town meetings to settle the location, which in fact was
at last determined by drawing- lots.
What scenes within the meeting-house the kodak would
have shown us, and what would we not give for a "talky", to
reproduce Deacon Marshall as he lined out the hymn in the
old way, and Mr. Beal who, much to the discomfort of the
Deacon, taught the new way of singing by rule! How we
would like to hear the tones and sentences of Mr. Warham,
on the occasion, for example, when the bans of Abraham
Randall and Benedict Alvord and their respective sweethearts
were published! The few words that have been recovered
from Mr. Warham's sermon on that occasion indicate that he
gave advice both earnest and appropriate. "Put on the whole
armor of God," was his text, and he improved it to say to the
young couples that "Marriage is a warfaring condition, and
those entering upon it need some further preparation than the
consent of their parents." I might add, by way of parenthesis,
to our young people, that Mr. Warham meant that marriage
is a condition that calls for steadiness, faithfulness, and obedi-
ence to duty, somewhat after the manner of the soldier's life.
What incidents, solemn at the time and to the people con-
cerned, much less so to us as we view them from the distance,
we might picture! Scenes there were that move us to laugh-
ter, and others, — the austerities of life — the tithing man with
his rod to subdue the boys to quiet in the house of God when
there was nothing to engage their interest, the fines for
absence from meeting, the pillory and the whipping post for
offenses which we would ignore, or deal with in a different
manner — these move us not to laughter, but to pity.
Severe and drab as many aspects of life were, however, we
must not picture these ancestors as creatures of unlightened
gloom. Quoting Dr. George Leon Walker, who knew the whole
early period here as few have known it: "It has been fashion-
able to speak of Puritan times as joyless and hopeless, and of
the lot of men, women and children then as only and altogether
miserable. The assertion is utterly inaccurate — the new-
comers to this forest continent had, indeed, hard things to en-
counter. The times nowhere in the Old World or the New
were those of softness or ease. Severity in the treatment of
CELEBRATIONS 409
wrong doing was the universal rule of law; mercifulness and
pity toward transgression of Divine or human statutes were
nowhere found. The softer side of life had not anywhere
come to be much taken into account.
But that the Puritans of New England were typically
hard, austere, and unhappy people, is utterly to mistake their
character, and to falsify their relative standing-place among
men."
For those who think the return of beer something to make
life more endurable in our day and to be without it a grievous
hardship, I might quote a word from Roger Clap, who came
over in the Mary and John with Mr. Warham and remained in
Dorchester. Referring to the social and domestic habits in
Massachusetts Bay, he is reported to have said that "it was
not accounted a strange thing in those days to drink water!"
But it is not my purpose to dwell upon incidental happen-
ings and detail of life in the olden time. It is rather to speak
of certain basic things for which the Fathers stood, things of
abiding significance, things worthy of our cherishing and
from which we all stand to profit in this our own day.
Let me mention two or three of the articles of faith by
which the early Fathers lived and which may still be ours by
inheritance from them.
One of the first things we come upon is their idea, their
feeling, I might say which amounted to a certainty that God
was over them and with them in all their affairs, both private
and public. I would not, of course, say that this was a new
doctrine in the world. They would be the last to claim it as
new. But it was new in the way they thought of it, and more
particularly in the power it exerted in their lives. It was a
ruling idea in their adventure.
There are some pictures which should hang in the mental
gallery of our people, including the girls and boys, and be as
familiar as their own mother's faces. One of them is the sail-
ing of the Mayflower. The first Englishmen to come for
settlement in Windsor were men, — and perhaps women, of the
Mayflower connection. On this account we have a direct and
local interest in that ship's company. The pastor of the May-
flower Pilgrims during their sojourn in Holland was John
410 OLD WINDSOR
Robinson. He did not come over with them, but his prayers
for them and his wise counsel filled the sails of their ship.
Among his words of counsel. which have been preserved for
us is his famous saying about the further light and truth which
they might expect from the Holy Scripture, by which he meant
that the truth for men's lives is something that may be re-
vealed as they need it. God, who had spoken to them through
his unfolding of the word of Scripture, would go with them
overseas, and they were to be as ready to follow His light over
there as they had been in Leyden. Behold them then on the
deck of their ship, listening to their pastor's prayer and his
wise admonitions! That is one picture — and another along
side of it might be that when the compact, beginning with the
words "In ye name of God Amen," was drawn up and signed
in the cabin of the ship.
Another picture of later date which has even more con-
cern for us is that of the Mary and John. It is the 20th of
March, 1630, and the Mary and John was ready in the harbor
of Plymouth, Old England. You might touch up that picture
with some tints from your own brush. Here were assembled
one hundred forty persons, men, women, and children. You
might add a scene from the homes from which they came,
putting into the picture some of the neighbors and kinsfolks
who came in to say good-bye. You might put into one corner
the bundles of luggage which were packed and ready to take
along on a voyage for which there were no return tickets.
How many things your imagination might put in! But one
thing needs no imagination. It is in the plain record. I refer
to the preaching and the praying. Rev. John White, a clergy-
man of the Church of England, did some preaching in the
forepart of the day. Mr. Warham, chosen that day as pastor
of the flock, and Mr. Maverick, the teacher, took their turn at
preaching in the latter part of the day. And as to the pray-
ing— like Jacob who wrestled with the angel, they would not
let go until they were assured of the Lord's blessing for their
voyage. Is not that a picture to hang in the gallery of our
memories?
But what meanings are we to see within it? Were they
simply calling upon God because they were afraid of the sea?
CELEBRATIONS 411
For my own part I would not blame them if they did tremble
a bit a3 they stepped aboard their little craft, soon to be en-
trusted to the tender mercies of the north wind and to Nep-
tune's fitful moods. But not so much fear of the sea was it
that prompted them, as it was fear lest they fail to know the
will of God and in their obedience to the same. What we have
here is essentially the same as that exhibited by the Mayflower
Company — a people setting out on a vast new venture, not as
bold and reckless plungers for fame and fortune, but as men
and women who had been stirred to new religious life, along
with many others in England, both of those who came over
here and those who remained at home, and whose ruling idea
was God's sovereign will above them, and with them, in all
their tasks of building the new community in His name.
I am not saying that their understanding of the God whom
they sought to obey was perfect. It was indeed far from per-
fect. Their studies were more in the Old Testament than ours
are. We give larger place to the study of Jesus in our efliort
to understand the will of God. That we believe is a great gain.
But the important fact to keep in mind and to be thankful for is
that they were honestly religious people, and that our founda-
tions were laid on the solid rock of faith in the ever-living God.
Rev. John Higginson speaking to the General Court of Massa-
chusetts, May 27, 1676, is reported to have said: "This is
never to be forgotten that New England is originally a planta-
tion of Religion. If any man were to mark religion as 12 and
the world as 13, let such a one know that he hath neither the
spirit of a true New England man, nor yet of a sincere Chris-
tian."
Now, dear friends all, to whatever church you belong, or
whatever reason you may have for not belonging to any, is
there not something here of priceless worth that we all share
as citizens of the community?
Large sections of the human family at this moment are
attempting to build a civilization with God left out of it. There
may be reasons for doing so in their case. It may be too soon
to estimate their success. But so far at least, for one, I feel
sure that their experiment should make us more glad than
ever for our inheritance, and for the faith that we still have
412 OLD WINDSOR
that God is with us for good and for the good of the world
and that a civilization with God left out will ultimately be
neither human nor happy.
And is not that faith as essential for the new day as it was
for the old? When we take a deep look into the distance —
toward the sea whose unexplored spaces stretch before us, and
upon which we, each alone as well as all together as a com-
munity, must launch out and make our adventure into the
future — when, I say, we take such a look, can we fail to grasp
the supreme meaning of the faith of Warham and Huit, of
Ludlow and Henry Wolcott, or to rejoice in the inheritance
which we have from such as they?
And this, my friends, is no divisive faith. It is this that
unites us, as we are united in this meeting tonight, whatever
our differences may be. Congregationalists and Catholics, and
all who come between these two extremes of religious practice
are one beneath the canopy of the one God, who is over us all,
and let us hope with us all.
I had a new reminder the other day of how this fact of
which I have been speaking has come to pervade our life, even
when we are little aware of it. I took a copper penny from
my pocket, — that little ready messenger that so often finds its
way in the offering boxes on Sunday morning. I washed the
little fellow's face, and there I saw what I had really forgotten,
the words, "In God We Trust" — our legacy of faith stamped
upon our smallest coin! After refreshing my memory with
the penny, I looked at the dime, and then at the quarter, and
lo ! the same words printed there, "In God We Trust."
Having gone so far I thought I would read a dollar bill,
and then a five dollar bill that had strayed into my pocket,
but upon these I found no such words. I wonder if any such
thought comes to your mind as came to mine? "Is it possible
that the disappearance of the words from the higher brackets
of the currency is a symbol of the disappearance of the faith
from the more highly favored folks of the community?" That
however, is but a fugitive thought that I have allowed to flit
into my theme. Another legacy from the Fathers is very likely
in your minds before I speak of it. If we must have a word
for it, is there any other single word to describe it but dem-
CELEBRATIONS 413
ocracy? As I speak the word, I know the thoughts that come
to the minds of some of you. "Were they democrats, these
pioneers? Did they believe in equality ?" And what instances
you can bring up that savor more of aristocracy than of
democracy ! Take the practice of "seating the meeting-house,"
or "dignifying the seats" as it was called; one might ask "was
that a democratic practice?" The men of wealth and occu-
pants of public office were seated according to their station.
And this principle was apparently held to all the way from
the highest to the lowest. Deacon Hayden states in his valu-
able paper read at a previous anniversary that the seating of
the common people was the more difficult task, which taxed
the wisdom and patience of the Committee in charge. The
difficulty was largely owing to the fact that individuals esti-
mated their own rank higher than the committee or their
neighbors rated them. This was not the only practice that
seems hardly in line with the democratic principle of equality.
Let us frankly admit that democracy was not a full-grown
tree three centuries or even two centuries ago. But who can
doubt that the vital seed of it was planted in this valley by the
first comers?
The classic expression of the democratic principle for
Americans, I suppose, is Jefferson's words in the Declaration
of Independence, even though his words have been covered
with ridicule by men who ought to know better. "We hold,"
said Jefferson "that all men are created equal." If we take
pains to inquire what he meant, we shall not only be glad he
said it, we shall agree with it. You only need to look in at
the window of any home where there is a family of children,
to see the truth of Jefferson's words, and the meaning of the
word "equal" as used in such connection. In the family all
the children are equal, are they not? Equal in the greatest
fact of all, their relation to father and mother, to brothers and
sisters — in the equal affection and care of the parents? Jef-
ferson never intended to give words to the stupid idea that all
the children are of the same height, have the same complexion,
color of eyes and hair, or the same mental and spiritual gifts.
In these respects what differences occurs within the bounds
of the same family ! Such I feel sure was the intent of Jeffer-
son's classic phrase.
414 OLD WINDSOR
So you see his statement of democracy touches what we
have in the faith of the Windsor Fathers. Democracy has its
foundation in the faith that men are children of God, are
members of God's great family. That one fact is above all
others. And being children of God does not mean that they
must all sit in the same seats, or belong to the same party,
or work with the same tools, or have the same size pocketbook,
or read the same books. Democracy implies as wide differences
as are the gifts bestowed by the all-Father. The denial of
this principle at this moment in some of the great nations of
the world is among the most inhuman as well as ungodly
things in the distressing history of the world. The one fact
that gives democracy its meaning is that every man is a child
of God (that his accountability is first of all to God and then
to his fellows).
How plainly we behold these related facts in the early
documents, both of Plymouth and of Connecticut! The May-
flower compact begins, as I have said, with the recognition of
God. "In the name of God, Amen." Then in the presence of
God and of one another they made the covenant for securing
order in the community which they were to set up. And do
you recall how the fundamental orders drawn up by Roger
Ludlow began? "Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God
by the wise disposition of his divine Providence so to order
and dispose of things that we, the inhabitants of Windsor,
Hartford, and Wethersfield are now cohabiting and dwelling
in and upon the river of Connecticut and lands thereto ad-
joining; and well knowing where a people are gathered to-
gether the word of God requires that to mayntayne the peace
and union of such people there should be an orderly govern-
ment." Ludlow, the lawyer, multiplied his phrases way be-
yond the measure of the Mayflower compact written by lay-
men, but both documents witness to the fact that democracy
as here conceived has its foundation upon the faith that men
are children of God.
I know quite well what some critic of the period will say :
"Ah! yes, it was faith in man as chOd of God, but what man?
Was it not faith in the churchman, rather than faith in man?
Was it not faith in a special class of men, the so-called religious
CELEBRATIONS 415
men?" This charge, with much truth, may be brought against
the Bay Colony of Massachusetts, but it does not equally fit
the case here. Thomas Hooker uttered the mind of our people
when he said : "The choice of magistrates belongs unto the
people by God's own allowance." He adds that this choice
must be "exercised according to the blessed will and law of
God." And there you have the principle of democracy as it
was conceived by people here and in Hartford in 1638, and
expressed in the cogent logic of Hartford's gifted preacher, a
democracy of men, women too, in these later times, — who per-
form their tasks, both private and public, in the spirit of
reverence for the God of right and of regard for fellow sharers
in the common life. If we wanted a New Testament statement
of it, what better could we find than the sum of the command-
ments as stated by Jesus, "Thou shall love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart and thy neighbor as thyself?"
This is the democracy, whatever its many failures and
contradictions, that has come down to us as a legacy from
those whom we celebrate in this anniversary.
The old preachers used to improve their theme by some
pertinent lessons for their hearers drawn from it. I feel sure
you will allow me to imitate them for a moment, especially as
the hour glass is not ready to be turned.
I have spoken of the Fathers' faith in God ; of their faith
in man as a child of God ; and I have said that upon such foun-
dations our democracy rests, our liberties depend. Let me
improve my theme by admonishing you to cherish your in-
heritance, and bequeath it undimmed to your children.
Coming into New York Harbor two summers ago I saw
the face of a ten year old girl as she caught sight of the giant
goddess of Liberty enlightening the world, whose radiant fea-
tures look toward the rising sun. I thought the light in the
face of the goddess might well be shadowed if not extinguished
by the insults to Liberty that come from many quarters. But
the light in the face of the little girl must never be darkened.
For the sake of the children and the generations to come, we
must cherish with quenchless ardor the legacy which we have
416 OLD WINDSOR
received from our far-seeing ancestors, and add to its com-
pleted beauty and perfection by our own enlightened devotion.
For we must remember that human liberty is a growing
plant, sensitive to frosts, and requiring intelligent nurture.
The goddess of which I just now made mention is a full-grown
figure. She stands for liberty in its maturity, to be achieved
in time to come. She was not so big in 1633. She has suf-
fered, and still suffers the growing pains common to all life.
In the early days, as we well know, liberty was a somewhat
limited privilege, so indeed it must always be. At one time
it was liberty to go to church but not to stay away. For a
time here it was liberty to belong to the Congregational
Church, but not to any other. In Massachusetts Bay it was
liberty for the preaching of John Cotton, but not for Roger
Williams. Let us admit these limitations, and let us judge
them in the light of the times, having in mind the grave tasks
of the responsible leaders of the community lest too easy divi-
sion might lead to disaster. For liberty was a new wine that
sometimes went to the head.
But let us never forget that the liberty founded on the
faith in man as a child of God, was a living thing, and destined
to grow ; and so in the process of its growth, it came to mean
liberty to leave the Congregational Church on the hill, with
its white spire pointing toward heaven to bear its own wit-
ness, and to establish others according to the traditions, tastes,
and beliefs of the different groups that came to make up the
increasing community. Thus, this evening, having passed the
period when separations curdled the milk of human kindness,
we are all here, — all groups and denominations of Christians,
each enjoying the type of worship that they desire, and all
united in the one comprehensive fellowship of the people of
God.
Such, my friends, was the adventure in ideas upon which
our Fathers set out, and such is our heritage. Let us cherish
it, rejoice in the blessings of it, and pass it on, in ampler beauty
and perfection by reason of our own wisdom and devotion,
to the children in whose bright faces we already behold the
light of the gleam.
CELEBRATIONS 417
At the Athletic Field
The speakers' stand was erected near the High School
between the two west entrances to the school building. In
addition to the Governor and his Staff, the Hon. John T.
Robinson, members of the Tercentenary Committee, and in-
vited guests were seated on the platform. The Students of
the High School under the direction of Miss C. Louise Dicker-
man, and the Windsor Band, led by Burton W. Elliott, occupied
positions to the right of the speakers' stand. Seven hundred
chairs placed before the stand were filled with visitors and a
far greater number stood thru the program. Daniel Howard,
Chairman, presided.
The Chairman — Three hundred years are a long time to
wait for a celebration such as we are holding today, but the
Ancient Town has waited patiently tho not idly, for Windsor
has always had leaders who knew enough to know that no town
could ever have a celebration that would be creditable, honor-
able, and glorious unless it produced citizens whose achieve-
ments were worthy of credit, of honor, and of glory.
It is because Windsor has produced citizens of this type
that she is able today to say with truth that she is proud of
her history, proud to celebrate the three hundredth anniver-
sary of her birth, and that she is happy to welcome all her
citizens both native and adopted to the exercises of this occa-
sion. She extends also a friendly and a maternal welcome
to ail her daughter towns.
Windsor, the pioneer, has always been a leader in affairs
of church and state and her influence has spread not only thru-
out our own state but also to every other state in our nation
and even to other nations beyond the seas. Therefore, she
welcomes here the representatives of other towns, the officials
of our state tand nation, and all men and women from every-
where who share with us our love of liberty and justice,
brotherhood and cooperation, which have been the basis of our
government and our influence.
Windsor has cherished a warm affection for the governors
of our state. She furnished the first governor in the person
of Roger Ludlow. To be sure this was long ago and as the
machinery of government was not then highly developed the
418 OLD WINDSOR
title of governor had not come into use, but in a state the man
who governs is a governor no matter what his name or title.
The first real government of Connecticut was the General
Court and the first President of the first General Court was
Roger Ludlow of Windsor. Windsor, however, has produced
other governors who bore the title as the records of the Wol-
cotts and the Ellsworths will amply certify. Hence when a
governor comes to Windsor it must seem to him like paying
a visit to the family home. We hope this is the way it seems
to our governor today. At any rate we feel that Windsor is
where he ought to be and where he ought to feel at home on
this occasion. Therefore, it gives me the greatest pleasure and
I deem it a signal honor to present to this gathering His Ex-
cellency, Wilbur L. Cross, Governor of the State of Connecti-
cut.
THE ADDRESS OF GOVERNOR CROSS '
It is, as I read, three hundred years to the day since
William Holmes, with a little company from Plymouth Colony
bid defiance to the Commander of the fort at Dutch Point, a
few miles below here, and sailed onward up the Great River
to Matianuck, afterwards renamed Windsor. This river wind-
ing through rich meadows, was a favorite haunt of the Indians.
In their canoes they traversed its entire length from its mouth
to its source. This part of the river here, neither too broad
nor too narrow, they loved especially. The Great River and
its tributaries abounded in fish, and all round them on the
uplands were forests wild with game as well as with wolves.
It was a happy valley of the Redmen.
Why, one may ask, did William Holmes and his men come
over the long water-route from Plymouth to Windsor? Why
did they not take a short-cut over the land? The only safe
way then was by water. Lying between Plymouth and Mati-
anuck was a vast wilderness over hills and across valleys,
where wandered hostile Indians of various tribes. There was
no long trail across the country, and the short trails were uni-
known or uncertain to all but the Redmen. After settlements
along the shore, rivers were the usual pathways for penetrat-
ing the land. So the men of Plymouth, as the easiest and really
the quickest route, came to Windsor by sea and river.
CELEBRATIONS 419
The floats we have seen today have brought back to life
the ancient Redmen and have presented to us in symbolic
scenes the story of Windsor from the blockade house built
from Plymouth lumber, down through the great World War.
One of your men, Mr. Daniel Howard, has just given us' in
Glimpses of Ancient Windsor most interesting detail of the
way your ancestors once lived here. The tale he tells is fas-
cinating and at time humorous. They would grow tobacco
for instance and yet prevent the use of the weed by fines.
Mr. John Robinson and others are to tell you more, not for-
getting the worthies who attained eminence in church and
state and in literature. I am here not to add anything new
to the history of Windsor. I am here as Governor of Con-
necticut to congratulate you, as I now do, on your history and
on this most appropriate manner in which you have observed
your tercentenary.
You may be unaware that, though I was bOrn in Mansfield,
over in Tolland County, I am one of you by descent. A certain
seafaring man named William Cross owned land in Windsor
and in Wethersfield (in one or both places) as early as 1644.
From this man I come in direct line. A restless adventurer
who with others migrated from the Connecticut Colony to
Fairfield, where he died, has been metamorphosed by the cen-
turies into a Governor very quiet in his habits and indisposed
to wander much.
It is a tradition of the family, now confirmed, that William
Cross fought with your ancestors in the Pequot War. This
means that he had a share in the terrible slaughter of the
Pequots in their fort at Mystic. A few of the Pequots escaped
the white men, and their descendants are now living on a
reservation in North Stonington. A few months ago, I ad-
dressed an outdoor audience where these Pequots, with their
ancient enemies, the Narragansetts, stood in the front lines.
I took the occasion to apologize to them for what one of my
ancestors may have done to their ancestors. They smiled,
evidently regarding the incident as now forever closed.
Peter, the son of William Cross, fought with a few of
your ancestors in the fierce war against King Philip along the
eastern border of Connecticut and in Rhode Island. Peter,
420 OLD WINDSOR
the Indian fighter, eventually settled in what is now Mansfield,
where he built a stockade as protection against the Indians
on a promontory jutting out into the Natchaug River. His
descendents pushed further up into the valley of the Fenton
where my father lived. All this explains why I happened to be
born by mistake in Mansfield instead of Windsor. But the
family always kept up quietly its sentimental relations with
Windsor. My father made many visits here with relatives of
whom I have no knowledge as he died when I was but a boy.
He had some connection with the famous old Grist Mill which
was then owned and managed by a former Mansfield man.
Thus the circle is completed.
And now, as the revenant of that William Cross of 1637,
I come back to you for a day to join with you in celebrating
an event most significant in Connecticut history.
The Chairman — We have already mentioned the name of
Roger Ludlow who was unquestionably the most eminent
lawyer of his time in New England and possibly the most emi-
nent in all the colonies that had then been settled. At a later
period during the critical years of the Revolutionary War and
the years following that war when our national government
was being organized, Oliver Ellsworth of Windsor was pre-
eminent among the lawyers of that time. Still later at the
time when our State Constitution was adopted, John M. Niles
of Windsor, the leader in the movement that produced that
Constitution, was a legal star of the first magnitude. Emi-
nent lawyers, therefore, find themselves in a congenial atmos-
phere when they breathe the air of old Windsor. That is why
we have chosen an eminent lawyer to deliver the historical
address on this historic occasion. I have the great pleasure
and the great honor of presenting the Hon. John T. Robinson
of Hartford.
ADDRESS OF HON. JOHN T. ROBINSON
Mr. Chairman, Your Excellency Governor Cross,
Fellow Citizens:
It is a privilege to salute the Town of Windsor, the first
settlement in Connecticut and in a real sense the birthplace
of American constitutional history and American democracy.
CELEBRATIONS 421
Old age in itself is not always glorious but a long life filled
with honorable achievement is justly a source of pride. Your
three centuries of life have been replete with honor and
achievement.
Three hundred years ago today, William Holmes and his
little band of followers from Plymouth were making their
first settlement. They were soon joined by other settlers from
Dorchester. Matianuck was your first name. This was soon
changed to Dorchester and shortly to Windsor. As they well
knew, terrifying hardships faced these first settlers. The
good earth itself was none too friendly. Dangerous beasts
swarmed the forests and far more dangerous were the war-
like Pequots who infested the woods to the east. The purpose
in their minds and the courage in their hearts proved strong
enough to overcome all the hardships. Under the leadership
of your own Captain John Mason, the Pequots were soon dis-
posed of in a somewhat ruthless though perhaps necessary
manner. Soon the Indians, even the friendly ones, disappeared
and today we have little left of these first Americans save a
few names. Even these names are being tampered with by
the modern geographer who has ruthlessly wrenched away
the name Tunxis from your beautiful river. However, hear-
ing the band play Yankee Doodle reminds me that we still
have the term "Yankee" which the Indians bestowed upon the
early settlers of Connecticut. Although the Nation as a whole
is seeking to appropriate this name, it belongs of ancient right
to the people of Connecticut.
We are honored today by the presence of the seventy-first
Governor of Connecticut. The thirteenth Governor was Roger
Wolcott, of Windsor, a distinguished general and able states-
man. Observing Governor Cross's blue sash, I am reminded
that Governor Wolcott's customary costume consisted of a
scarlet coat with gilt buttons and other ornaments, a three-
cornered hat with a cockade, and a long flowing wig. I think
Governor Cross would look quite beautiful in such a costume
but he does not need it to enhance his dignity any more than
did Governor Wolcott.
For three hundred years the people of Windsor and her
neighboring towns have enjoyed civil and political liberty to
422 OLD WINDSOR
a degree unprecedent in human history. For the first one
hundred fifty years, it is true, you were under the nominal
dominion of the British King but even during that period the
hand of sovereignty lay lightly upon you. And for all these
three hundred years save for the short usurpation of Sir
Edmund Andros, you have been choosing your own Governor
and officers according to your own will. No other American
state or colony save Rhode Island has enjoyed such a term of
self-government.
The first settlers of New England were Pilgrims fleeing
to our shores to escape from political and religious tyranny.
Scoffers have asserted that the first settlers of Connecticut
came to this valley for material ends but this is unjust and
largely untrue. The government of Massachusetts from which
they migrated was theocratic or aristocratic. Only church
members in regular standing could vote or participate in gov-
ernmental affairs. The liberal souls of Roger Ludlow, Thomas
Hooker and their followers thirsted for freedom and the migra-
tion from Massachusetts to Connecticut was a great step for-
ward in political freedom.
Before I speak more of our forefathers, I wish to do
honor to the memory of our foremothers, who played a de-
cidedly important part in the creation of the subsequent gen-
erations. I doubt not that hardships made the Puritan fathers
somewhat stern. Not only did the Puritan mothers have to
put up with the same hardships borne by the Puritan fathers,
but as someone has suggested, they had to put up with the
Puritan fathers themselves. Today let us do honor to the
generations of noble women who have borne so great a part
in the life of this community for three hundred years.
What were the qualities of character of these men and
women which blossomed in illustrious accomplishment in their
own and future generations? They had the pioneer spirit,
which bore fruit in such a man as John Fitch, whose inven-
tion of the steamboat was the most revolutionary invention
in the history of navigation ; they had a hunger and thirst for
civil and political liberty which bore fruit in such statemen
as Roger Ludlow and Oliver Ellsworth ; they had infinite cour-
CELEBRATIONS 423
age which bore fruit in such men as Mason and Wolcott and
Bissell, the patriot spy, and the long line of brave soldiers
who have taken part in every one of our wars ; and in spite
of their outward sternness, they had a love of beauty which
blossomed forth in such a poet as Edward Rowland Sill ; and
they had an ever present determination to do the will of God
which through three centuries has bloomed forth in virtue and
integrity in the succeeding generations of women and men.
I have referred to Windsor as the birthplace of American
constitutional history. It was in 1639 that the newborn colony
of Connecticut, consisting then of the three towns of Windsor,
Wethersfield and Hartford, adopted the Fundamental Orders,
the first written constitution in human history.
As a citizen of Hartford I naturally take infinite pride in
the spirit of liberty which burst forth from the tongue and
soul of Thomas Hooker and which found embodiment in the
first constitution. But however much Thomas Hooker and
others may have contributed to the creation of the Funda-
mental Orders, it was Roger Ludlow, of Windsor, who actually
framed and drafted that immortal document. Ludlow, the
statesman and lawyer, and Hooker, the statesman and
preacher, were both pioneers and liberals. Not content to
bow to existing restraints, their vision was forward and up-
ward.
"The true authority for a government is the free consent
of the people" preached Thomas Hooker from his pulpit, and
again, "The people have the right to say what shall be the
powers and duties of the officers they choose." Today these
sentiments sound commonplace. In the days of Hooker and
Ludlow they were bold radicalism. In formulating these
sentiments into a written frame for government, Ludlow and
Hooker laid the foundation and precedent for constitutional
government in this land. They were benefactors of humanity
and must be numbered among the great.
The statesmen of Windsor have specialized in fundamental
things. The Constitution of the United States was largely
the handiw^ork of Oliver Ellsworth, your most illustrious
statesman. In the great Constitutional Convention he was
424 OLD WINDSOR
one of the committee of five entrusted with the actual framing
of the instrument. His participation in the making of the
Constitution has never been adequately recognized. Not only
was he one of the major architects of our country's Constitu-
tion, but his mind and hand framed the Judiciary Act which
established the system of Federal Courts for the Nation, a
system which has worked well down to the present time. His
appointment to the office of Chief Justice of the Nation's
Supreme Court was a fitting acknowledgment of his great
services to his country.
In spite of Mr. Henry Ford's quoted assertion that history
is "Bunk," I believe the man who cannot find inspiration for
the future in such a history as that of Windsor must have a
sodden soul. Today the world is in turmoil. Kings and em-
perors have lost their crowns. Parliaments have been swept
into the discard. Nations are ruled by dictators with no con-
stitutional restraint. . . In our own Nation there lie before us
tremendous problems, whose solution will call for the wisest
statesmanship. The United States Constitution itself will cer-
tainly be put to severe strain. Shall we cast aside the wisdom
and principles of statesmen like Ellsworth or rather shall we
not study them for our guidance in the future? When James
Russell Lowell was asked how long the American Republic
would endure, he replied, "So long as it is true to the prin-
ciples of its founders."
Windsor has indeed had three Centuries of Progress.
But do not deceive yourselves into thinking that the history
of Windsor has been written. Look forward to the three cen-
turies to come. Perchance among the schoolboys listening to
my voice there may be a Ludlow or an Ellsworth to help the
Nation solve the vast problems of its future.
Pride in the past is justly yours. Let is not lull you into
easy contentment. Rather let the past be your inspiration
for achievements in the years and centuries yet to come.
Index
Pag-e
Academy, The 138
Acadians in Windsor 5
Accounts, Old 317
Agriculture, Diversified 236
Allyn House 3'50
Allyn, Matthew 253
Anchor Mill 2*46
Attachment, An 306
Authors 173
Auxiliary, American Legion 103
Baptists 214
Barber, H. C. 176
Barber, J. W. 174
Batchelder, Mrs. E. B. L. 289
Batchelder, N. H. 171
Belief Declared 320
Best Mfg. Co. 244
Bicentennial, 1932 396
Bill, A Physician's 329
Bill, Selectmen's 325
Bills 334
Bills, School 326
Bills, Town ^20
Bissell, Daniel 270
Bissell, John 44
Block, Adriaen 7
Board of Finance 109
Boulder, Settler's 9
Bray Rossiter 37
Brewster, Jonathan 10
Brickmaking 2i3i0
Bridge of 1854 33,9
Bridge, R. R. 219
Brown, S. F. 294
Brewster, Jonathan 10
Calendar Changed 6
Calves Identified 302
Campbell School 173
Canal, Windsor Locks 330
Cannery, Windsor 234
C. A. R.
Centennial Ode
Centennial Picnic
Centennial Poem
Chaff"ee School
Charles The First
Church, Bethany
Church Celebrations
Church, First
Church, Grace
Church, M. E.
Church, Poquonock Congl.
Church, St. Gabriel's
Church, St. Gertrude's
Church, St. Joseph's
Church, Univ.
Church, Wilson Community
Civil War
Clap, Roger
Clark Truck Co.
Clark, George L,
Clocks
Collar and Cuff Co.
Colt, John
Commission of Eight
Congress Mill
Constitution of 1818
Corn Mill
Cotton and Democracy
Crosby, George E. Jr.
Cross, Governor
Page
90
366
361
368
171
12
218
371
193
203
198
195
209
213
207
203
216
84
13
247
388
236
244
45
27
239
80
16
34
186
418
D. A. R. 89
Deerfield Burned 47
Democracy 13
Deposit Fund 331
Dexter & Sons 247
Dial, The 356
Dissenters Avoid Tax 81
Division 23
Dorchester Party 11, 12, 13
Drain, Great 315
426
INDEX
Page
Dunham Mills, Inc. 242
Dutch Fort 8
Dutch Republic 34
Dutch Traders 10
East Granby 25
East Windsor's Petition 24
Easton, Mrs. Emma 218
Eddy Electric Co. 243
Elucational Progress 123
Educators and Authors 173
Edwards, Jonathan 256
Ellsworth and Filley Bldg. 248
Ellsworth Home 268
Ellsworth, Oliver 266
Enos, Roger 274
Equivalent, The 21
Errors. Change:
24 to 23 line 11 59
Ludlow to Wolcott, line 13 108
O. Masta to O'Masta 168
Expansion 17
Farmington River Power
Fence Viewers
Perries
Ferry Boat
Ferry Lane
Fitch, John (Inv.)
Fitch, John (Sol.)
Floriculture
Franklin, Christine L.
Franklin Mills
French and Indian War
Fresh River
Fundamental Orders
Future, Plans for
Fyler House
Co.
244
52
299
44
359
262
251
226
11 A
240
49
7
32
351
5'3, 189
General Electric Co.
Gillette, Francis
Government
Grammar Schools
Grant, Matthew
Grave of Rev. Huit
Great Meadow
Great Swamp Fight
243
275
27
42
14, 53, 254
377
11, 14
46
Page
Griswold Family
287
Gun Making
356
Harriman, Rev. F. W.
295
Hartford Paper Co.
240
Harvard College
38
Hatheway Mill
240
Hats
237
Hayden, Capt. Nathaniel
60
Hayden Hall
172
Hayden, H. H.
278
Hayden, H. S.
29?
Hayden, J. H.
283
Hayden, J. H. (Home)
220
Hayden Social Club
218
Health Department
117
Health Underwear Co.
242
Heart, Purple
274
Herald, Windsor
353, 360
Hickey Home
210
High Schools
143
Highway Department
1113
Holbrook's Globes
247
Holmes, William
8, 249
Holsworth, Doris C.
176
Home Guards
92
Home Lots
5g
Hooker's Sermon
31
Houses, Old
346
Howard, Daniel
17'5
Hubbard House
358
Huit, Rev. Eiphraim
43
Impounding Cattle
305
Indenture, a typical
40
James the First
12
Jaquith, C. A.
383
Jenkin's Ear
48
Joshua
20
Kennedy, Maurice
298
King George's War
48
King Philip's War
45
King's Island
20, 43
Legion, American
99
Legion Home
351
INDEX
427
Library, Public
Limericks, World War
Loomis Homestead
Loomis Institute
Loomis School
Lords and Gentlemen
Lots, Home
Ludlow, Roiger
Ludlow's Letter
Mack, Andrew
Market Gardening
Marshall, Daniel
Mary and John, The
Mason, John
Matianuck
Maverick, John
Medlicott Co.
Meeting House, First
Metropolitan District
Mill, the Old
Montgomery Co.
Morgan, E. D.
Nassacowen
Nattawanut
Nearing Trophy
Nelson, Rev. Roscoe
New England Confederacy
Newgate Prison
New Hospital
Newspapers
Niks, John M.
Niles, Richard
Officers, 1768
Oil City
Old Glory Flies
Palisado Green
Paper Making
Park, Sage
Park, Washington Mem.
Pastor called
Patent of Windsor
Pequoit Indians
Phelps, William
Page
Page
177
Physical Education
342
97
Port Royal
47
347
Post Offices
320
169
Price Fixing
303
171
Private Schools
im
11
Profane Swearing
42
53
250
Quinn, Rev. J. F.
212
30
Ransom, J. E.
292
276
225
265
12, 79
14, 252
10
13
Reel and Swift
22
Revolutionary Wiar
58
Road, Old Hartford
359
Robinson, John T.
420
Rossiter, Bray
14
Rowland, David
58
Rowland Family
382
247
Sage Park
336
15
Saybrook
11
110
School Budget
160
53, 182
School Districts
148
247
Schoolhouse No.4
33©
279
School Map
mi
20
7
181
296
38
309
13
353
282
287
School Notes
185
School Society
135
School Society, 2nd
1-59
School Supervision
147
Schools of Today
161
Sea Trade
75
Seating the Meeting House
16
Sequassen Co.
242
Seymour Mill
246
Shad Fishing
232
Shipbuilding-
77
56
Sill, E. R.
281
338
Small pox
10
395
Soldiers of 1812
84
Soldiers, 1861-65
85
14
Soldiers of 1898
87
238
Soldiers of the French War 50, 51
336
Soldiers in King Georges War
49
396
Soldiers of Revolutionary War
71
57
Soldiers of World War
101
56
Song, School
261
29
Sons of American Legion
105
19
Spanish American War
86
428
INDEX
Page
Spencer, C. M. 286
Spencer, J. B. 120
Stevens Paper Mills 239
Stiles, Francis 11
Stone Fort 26
Stoughton House 26
Swearing 307
Tax Assessors 119
Tax List 302
Tercentenary, Church 391
Tercentenary Hymn 403
Tercentenary, Town 397
Theft Case 304
Thorn for th 6
Tobacco 42, 221
Tobacco takers 42
Toto 46
Town Clerks 112
Town Court 109
Town Crier 357
Town Halls 107
Town Officers 120
Town Plan Commission 109
Trading house 8
Transients 57
Treaty of Utrecht 47
Tree, Hunting 335
Trust Company 343
Tunxis Mill 241
Turkey Hills 47
Turney, L. F., M. D. 118
Tuttle. R. C. 288
Union of Utrecht 34
Union Service 405
Page
Van Twiller, Wonter 9
Veteran Battalion 87
Veterans of Foreign Wars 106
Wade, Mary H.
176
Wahginnacut
7
War, Civil
84
War of li812
83
Warham, John
13, 14
Warham School
172
Warwick, Earl of
11
Washington Memorial Park
396
Water Works
355
Welfare Department
115
Western land 21,
24, 25
Whipping post
44
White, John
13
Williams, Roger
38
Wilson, Gowen C.
371
Wilson, L. P.
294
Windsor Company
227
Windsor Historical Society
183
Windsor Locks
25
Windsor, Vermont
25
Winslow, Governor
8
Winthrop, Governor
7
Wintonbury
25
Wire Mill
240
Wolcott, Henry
14, 28
Wolcott, Roger
i9, 254
Wolves
43
Wooward and Saffery
23
World War
91
Wonter Van Twiller
9
Zoning Rules
111
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